(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Urdu short movie Muftnoosh, set in pre-partition India, bagged three of the five awards at the international short film festival, Battle of the Best, organised by Socialciti in Dubai.The black and white movie based on a Saadat Hasan Manto tale received awards for best film, best director and best actor while Palomi Ghosh of Hindi movie Awakenings was selected for the best actress award.
Abu Dhabi-based director Tanveer Sayed's silent short comedy How to Train Your Husband was selected by the spectators as Popular Choice.
Nine movies of various genres and languages vied for the awards. Horror was the favourite among the directors with three movies of the genre screened at the festival. Judging panel member and president of DSF Studio Dr Anwar Al Yasri said Dubai is the ideal place for short filmmakers and offered full support to the directors. Sadia Noori, director of the film festival and founder of Socialciti, said the festival is a platform for the short film makers who would like their hard work to be screened on the big screen and get appreciated.
The nine movies were shortlisted from 45 entries, said Sadia Noori. "The movies were selected considering how successful they were in conveying the message the movies carry to the audience," she added.
Muftnoosh, the award-winning short, tells the comic plight of a smoker, who encounters different kinds of freeloaders.
The Indian movie from Aligarh is shown from the narrator's perspective while the popular choice short followed the Chaplin-style. When the arrogant husband loses his job and the wife saves the family with her savings, everything in their life goes upside down.
Faded, a movie by Dubai-based Tabarak Razvi, is a family drama which tells about love, but in a different way.
In the Malayalam movie, Balance, Shibu Mohammed dramatically narrates the story of a 'phone balance' seller on the street side and emphasises the need to keep a balance on society's wealth.
Sleight, another Dubai-based short by Faisal Hashmi, focuses on the events a late-night radio host faces after he goes off on a rant about his disdain for magicians.
Awakenings, a horror short from India, effectively describes what happens when the thin line between dreams and reality in the life of a young woman gets blurred.
Cube, another movie by Tabarak Razvi, is another single-actor movie which shows how a man's obsession with Rubik's Cube draws him into madness.
Armenian movie The Hunter had won many international accolades and was shown for the first time in the UAE at the festival. Aadhiyum Anthyavum, a Malayalam philosophical drama, discusses the concept of right and wrong.
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