(MENAFNEditorial) Under the patronage of Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Bint Khaled Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance and President of Zayed University, the 7th edition of Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (ZUMEFF) will take place on May 1 – 2 at Zayed University Abu Dhabi.
The top five finalists will be recognized and honored in an awarding ceremony that will take place at Abu Dhabi campus on May 2.
The 16 ZUMEFF Finalists are now in the hands of four industry judges: Majid Al Ansari, Director Zinana, & Arab Filmmaker Of The Year, Alaa Karkouti, Film Analyst, MAD & Arab Cinema Center, Butheina Kazim, Co-Founder of Cinema Akil and John Kochanczyk, Producer & Sound Editor at Mile Studio.
They will choose the Best of the Best, Best Narrative, Best Animation and Best Documentary Film, in addition to the twofour54/ZUMEFF Aspiring UAE Filmmaker Award. The finalists are from seven countries including Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Iran, Jordan and the UAE.
"ZUMEFF plays an important role in the exchange of ideas and approaches to filmmaking between the UAE and the students of ZU and international, especially regional, submissions. The submissions this year were marked by a strong sense of sociopolitical preoccupation on the one end of the spectrum and a deep introspective perspective on the other end. The selected films exhibited beginnings of many stronger future projects to come" says Butheina Kazim, Co-Founder of Cinema Akil.
Majid Al Ansari, Arab Filmmaker of the Year says: " I am so honored to be part of this year's ZUMEFF Jury. The festival is a great platform to recognize the future generation filmmakers from the Arab world."
The two-day event will be open to the public, who will enjoy watching around fifty films from 12 countries in the festival.
"We are very happy with more than 160 submissions that we received this year and we feel privileged to showcase the work of the young and talented Arab directors. It is great to see the festival grow year by year" says Sascha Ritter, the Faculty Director of ZUMEFF.
ZUMEFF's sponsors and partners this year are Etihad Airways, Park Rotana Abu Dhabi, Fast Rent A Car, twofour54, Adobe Middle East & Grapheast, Bin Hamoodah Auto, Fakrah Alwan, Dubai International Film Festival, The Scene Club, Arab Cinema Center, #SupportArabCinema, Abela, Mile Studios, UAE National Film Library and Archive and Zayed University
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.