Gulf cinema a 'promising industry'

Shaikh Nahyan at the opening of the third edition of the GCC Film Festival.

Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, honoured pioneers of drama and film industry in the GCC country. This came during his opening of GCC Film Festival in its third session, organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development representing the UAE in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the GCC in Abu Dhabi.
Shaikh Nahyan honoured the director Ali Mustafa from the UAE, director Eva Dawood from Bahrain, artists Saleh Zaal from Oman, Ahmed Al Mulla from Saudi Arabia, Khalifa Al Muraikhi from Qatar and director Ahmed Al Khallaf from Kuwait. Shaikh Nahyan also honoured members of the jury including Farid Ramadan from Bahrain, Shahd Amin from Saudi Arabia, Khalifa Al Muraikhi from Qatar, Khaled Al Bdour from the UAE, Saoud Al Darmaki from Oman and Walid Al Awadi from Kuwait.
The opening of the Gulf Film Festival was attended by more than 150 Gulf artists, Afra Al Sabri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, the artist Saoud Amr Allah, Abdulhamid Juma, Chairman of the Dubai International Film Festival and a large number of leading Emirati intellectuals and artists.
The festival continued for five days with the participation of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. Events included the display of Gulf documentaries, narrative and short movies. The festival included the following awards; best long documentary, best short documentary, best filming of a documentary movie, best narrative movie, best narrative short movie, best narrative long movie,   best filming of a narrative movie, best soundtrack, best actor and best actress.
Twenty-seven movies participated in the festival including 15 short movies and 12 narrative. The UAE participated with four narrative movies including "Going to paradise" by Saeed Salmin, "Close to the skies" by Nojoum Al Ghanim , "Royal Love" by Jamal Salem "About water, palm trees and our fathers" by Nasser Al Dhaheri and one short movie entitled "The Road" by Abdullah Al Junaibi. Saudi Arabia participated with four short movies and a long documentary, whereas Kuwait participated with three narrative movies and two short movies. Oman participated with the same number of movies, while Bahrain participated with one narrative movie and two short movies and Qatar participates with four short films.
Movie shows are followed with a series of seminars about the movies with participating directors, in addition of film production workshops and an interactive session with the honorees and a seminar about the role of cinema in facing terrorism. He stressed the importance of the conducting such film festivals in the Gulf region, paving the beginning of the road of the film industry which needs support and encouragement.
Speaking at the opening ceremony Shaikh Nahyan said that the film industry in the Gulf region is a promising industry alongside to the economic and social movement witnessed in the region. This calls for documentation by cinematic art which has become an active area to study and learn in all the countries of the region, in addition to the major breakthrough in digital technologies helping film production at a reasonable cost.
Shaikh Nahyan added that now there is a wider chance for movies display in the local market, surrounding markets and global markets, in general there is openness and awareness about the importance of cinema as a cultural and civilisational tool in this age of communication.