India's 'Inshallah, Football' bags Dubai Film Fest award

Directed by Asvin Kumar, “Inshallah, Football” is a poignant drama about a young Kashmiri boy obsessed with football but trapped by circumstances. It was cited in the Muhr AsiaAfrica category.

The festival, which ended Sunday, played host to 157 films from 57 countries, which included an array of contemporary Arab cinema, a competition focused on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Arab world, Asia and Africa.

The awards ceremony held at the Madinat Jumeirah, showcased the highlight of each section.

The Muhr Arab competition drew 400 entries from 42 nations. The best Muhr Arab Short film went to Sabine El Chamaa for “Un Mardi” (A Tuesday) from Lebanon.Best Muhr Arab Documentary went to Mahmoud A. Massad for “Hathihi Swrati Wa Ana Mayet”(This is my picture when I was dead) from the Netherlands, US and UAE.

Best Muhr Arab Feature went to George Hachem for “Rsassa Taycheh" (Stray Bullet) from Lebanon.The Muhr AsiaAfrica competition drew 445 entries from 62 countries, which includes 136 features and 199 short films.

The Best Muhr AsiaAfrica short film went to Nargiza Mamatkulova for “Soiko” (The Earrings) from Kyrgyzstan.Best Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary went to Jia Zhang-Ke for “Hai Shang Chuan Qi” (I wish I knew) from China.

Best Muhr AsiaAfrica feature went to Mahamat-Saleh Haroun for “Un Homme Qui Crie” (A Screaming Man) from France, Chad and Belgium.

For the first time, the Dubai International Film Festival presented the Muhr Emirati Awards for excellence in filmmaking to UAE filmmakers. Fourteen films made by UAE nationals competed in the first Muhr Emirati, shortlisted from more than 30 entries.
“Malal” by Nayla Al Khaja bagged the Best Muhr Emirati film.

Actors Sean Penn, Sabah and Souleymane Cisse were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards. The Muhr Emirati, Muhr Arab and Muhr AsiaAfrica award winning films would be screened at Cinestar cinemas at Mall of Emirates on  Dec 20.

The awards ceremony was followed by a gala closing party thrown by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum at Bab Al Shams Desert Resort and Spa, which is situated in the desert, a 45 minute drive away from the city.