Oct. 24 - Nov 2, 2013

Films

A Touch of Sin (Tian zhu ding)
Director: Jia Zhangke
China, Japan | Cantonese, Mandarin - 2013 | 129min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere

An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (Epizoda u zivotu beraca zeljeza)
Director: Danis Tanović
Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Slovenia, Italy | Bosnian
2013 | 74min.
Narrative Competition - UAE Premiere

Barber's Tales (Mga kuwentong barbero)
Director: Jun Robles Lana
Philippines | Tagalog- 2013 | 120min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere

The Rooftops (Es-stouh/Les Terrasses)
Director: Merzak Allouache
Algeria, France, Qatar | Arabic
2013 | 91min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere
From dawn till dusk, paced by the calls to prayer, a surprising crowd wanders about on the rooftops of Algiers.

Enemy
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Canada, Spain | 2013 | 90min.
Narrative Competition- Middle East Premiere

For Those Who Can Tell No Tales (Za one koji ne mogu da govore)
Director: Jasmila Žbanić
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar | Bosnian, English - 2013 | 72min.
Narrative Competition- Middle East Premiere

Ida
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Poland, Denmark | Polish - 2013 | 80min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere

In the Sands of Babylon (Taht remal Babyl)
Director: Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji
Iraq, United Kingdom, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates |
2013 | 92min.
Narrative Competition - World Premiere
An Iraqi soldier escaping from Kuwait as the army retreats in 1991 is captured and cast into Saddam's infamous prisons, accused of being a traitor. Outside, an Iraqi uprising instills hope for those held captive in the killing fields of Babylon.

Jealousy (La Jalousie)
Director: Philippe Garrel
France | French - 2013 | 76min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere

My Sweet Pepper Land (Biladi al-halwa... biladi al-hada)
Director: Hiner Saleem
Iraq, France, Germany, United Arab Emirates | Kurdish - 2013 | 95min. starring Golshifteh Farahani.
Narrative Competition -Middle East Premiere
In post-Saddam Kurdistan, an independence war hero accepts a position in a dreary village where he meets a beautiful young woman.

Night Moves
Director: Kelly Reichardt
USA | English - 2013 | 112min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere
Three clandestine activists (Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard) scheme to blow up a dam in a seemingly well-planned act of ecoterror, but a clean getaway proves to be more elusive than they anticipated.

Philomena
Director: Stephen Frears
United Kingdom, USA, France | English - 2013 | 97min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere

Rags and Tatters (Farsh wa ghata)
Director: Ahmad Abdallah
Egypt | Arabic- 2013 | 87min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere
Escaping from prison amid the turbulence of the 2011 Tahrir Square demonstrations, a fugitive desperately seeks warmth and shelter in the outer regions of Cairo, in this vivid and captivating portrait of the fallout from the Arab Spring.

Siddharth
Director: Richie Mehta
India, Canada | Hindi - 2013 | 96min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere
A powerful heart-rending tale about a poor Delhi street merchant desperately searching for his missing young son transforms into a genuine human portrait within a hard-working community that is rich in family and love.

The Reconstruction (La reconstrucción)
Director: Juan Esteban Taratuto
Argentina | Spanish - 2013 | 93min.
Narrative Competition - Middle East Premiere

Bastardo
Director: Nejib Belkadhi
Tunisia, France, Qatar | Arabic- 2013 | 106min.
New Horizons- Middle East Premiere
Larger-than-life characters populate this spellbinding combination of film noir and magic realism, which follows a now grown, downtrodden orphan who has a reversal of fortune and takes on the thugs who control his ghetto.

Before Snowfall (Før snøen faller)
Director: Hisham Zaman
Iraq, Norway, Germany | Kurdish - 2013 | 105min.
NH New Horizons - Middle East Premiere
A nontraditional road movie about family, love, dignity and honor. Siyar, only 16, is the eldest male in the family. When his sister escapes from her own wedding, he's given the task of finding her and restoring the family's reputation.

Belle
Director: Amma Asante
United Kingdom | English - 2013 | 104min.
NHNew Horizons
Inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a mixed-race girl raised as an aristocratic lady in 18th century England. Gorgeous settings provide the background for an engrossing story of passion, romance and the first antislavery actions.

Blind Dates (Brma paemnebi)
Director: Levan Koguashvili
Georgia | Georgian - 2013 | 97min.
NHNew Horizons - Middle East Premiere

Canopy
Director: Aaron Wilson
Australia | Mandarin, English - 2013 | 84min.
NHNew Horizons- Middle East Premiere
An Australian fighter pilot shot down over Singapore in WWII navigates through a dangerous jungle in search of sanctuary in a cinematic tour de force that explores the collision of war and nature and its impact on humanity.

Villa 69
Director: Ayten Amin
Egypt, United Arab Emirates | Arabic
2013 | 108min.
NHNew Horizons - International Premiere

Giraffada
Director: Rani Massalha
Palestine, France, Italy, Germany | Arabic, Hebrew - 2013 | 85min.
NHNew Horizons - Middle East Premiere
When the only male giraffe at the zoo in the Palestinian West Bank dies, the zoo's veterinarian and his ten-year-old son are determined to find a mate for the female before she dies of loneliness.

Love Me (Elsk meg)
Director: Hanne Myren
Norway | Norwegian - 2013 | 75min.
NHNew Horizons - World Premiere


My Name Is Hmmm... (Je m'appelle Hmmm...)
Director: Agnès Troublé
France | English, French - 2013 | 121min.
NHNew Horizons - Middle East Premiere

Potosí
Director: Alfredo Castruita
Mexico | Spanish - 2013 | 120min.
NHNew Horizons

Qissa
Director: Anup Singh
India, Germany, Netherlands, France | Punjabi - 2013 | 109min.
NHNew Horizons- Middle East Premiere

Salvo
Director: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Italy | Italian - 2013 | 103min.
NHNew Horizons - Middle East Premiere

Short Term 12
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
USA | English- 2013 | 96min.
NHNew Horizons - Middle East Premiere
A twentysomething supervising staff member of a foster care facility navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her coworker and longtime boyfriend. This lovingly realized film finds truth and humor in unexpected places.

Still Life
Director: Uberto Pasolini
Italy, United Kingdom | English - 2012 | 87min.
NHNew Horizons - Gulf Premiere

The Double
Director: Richard Ayoade
United Kingdom | English - 2013 | 93min.
NHNew Horizons- Middle East Premiere

Blackfish
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
USA | English, Spanish
2013 | 83min.
Documentary Competition
Middle East Premiere
This mesmerizing psychological thriller about the performing killer whale Tilikum challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals.

Cairo Drive
Director: Sherief Elkatsha
Egypt | Arabic, English - 2013 | 77min.
Documentary Competition - World Premiere
The life of the great metropolis of 20 million people and 14 million vehicles that crowd its streets is explored, revealing the collective identity that led to the historic changes taking place in Egypt today.

Who Is Dayani Cristal?
Director: Marc Silver
United Kingdom, Mexico | Spanish, English - 2013 | 84min.
Documentary Competition - International Premiere

Doctor Fabre Will Cure You
Director: Pierre Coulibeuf
Belgium, France | Dutch, English, French- 2013 | 61min.
Documentary Competition - International Premiere

El Gort (Jamal al-barrouta)
Director: Hamza Aouni
Tunisia, United Arab Emirates | Arabic - 2013 | 86min.
Documentary Competition - World Premiere
A bitterly realistic film, whose events took more than six years to unfold, follows the evolution of a group of young Tunisians working in the hay trade, tracking their movements and transformations in the ebb and flow between fragility and toughness, before and after the Tunisian revolution.

Hanging Dates Under Aleppo's Citadel (Balahon taalaka tahta qalaat Halab)
Director: Mohammad Soueid
Lebanon, United Arab Emirates | Arabic - 2013 | 71min.
Documentary Competition - World Premiere
A young man whose father was disappeared by the Syrian secret police in the early 1980s recounts his experiences in the revolution, starting as a singer in mass protests and becoming a fighter in the streets of Aleppo.

InRealLife
Director: Beeban Kidron
United Kingdom | English- 2013 | 86min.
Documentary Competition - Middle East Premiere

My Stolen Revolution
Director: Nahid Persson Sarvestani
Sweden | Farsi, Swedish
2013 | 75min.
Documentary Competition - Middle East Premiere
Haunted by the guilt of abandoning her imprisoned friends and her brother when she fled Iran after the 1979 revolution, filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani begins a quest to find the survivors and learn the fate of her brother.

Sacro GRA (Sacro GRA)
Director: Gianfranco Rosi
Italy | Italian
2013 | 93min.
Documentary Competition - Middle East Premiere

School of Babel (La Cour de Babel)
Director: Julie Bertuccelli
France | French - 2013 | 90min.
Documentary Competition - Middle East Premiere
In the multicultural arena of a Paris junior high school we see the innocence, the enthusiasm and inner turmoil of young immigrants-Irish, Serbian, Brazilian, Tunisian, Chinese, Senegalese-as they come to grips with learning in a new language.

The Kill Team
Director: Dan Krauss
USA | English- 2013 | 79min.
Documentary Competition - Middle East Premiere
An American soldier in Afghanistan who attempts to alert his superiors about atrocities being committed by his fellow soldiers himself becomes the target of one of the largest war crime investigations in U.S. history.

These Birds Walk
Director: Omar Mullick, Bassam Tariq
Pakistan, USA | Urdu - 2012 | 72min.
Documentary Competition - Middle East Premiere
The struggle of wayward street children in Karachi and the Good Samaritans from Edhi Foundation who look out for them is captured cinema verité style, resulting in an ethereal and inspirational story of resilience under difficult circumstances.

Walls (Muri)
Director: Francesco Conversano, Nene Grignaffini
Italy | Albanian, English, Serbian, Spanish
2012 | 85min.
Documentary Competition - Middle East Premiere
By comparing the wall in Arizona erected by the United States on the Mexican border and a bridge in Kosovo that separates Albanians and Serbs, Walls probes the growing number of artificial barriers that divide the human race.

Whispers of the Cities (Hams al-mudan)
Director: Kasim Abid
Iraq, United Arab Emirates | Arabic- 2013 | 62min.
Documentary Competition- World Premiere
Over 10 years Iraqi filmmaker Kasim Abid made a personal journey within the world close to his heart, gathering images of life on the streets in Ramallah, Baghdad and Arbil that reveal the daily struggle of the human spirit.

...

AWARDS

Narrative Competitition
Black Pearl Award - Narrative: Touch of Sin by Jia Zhangke
Special Jury Award: My Sweet Pepper Land by Hiner Saleem
Best Film from the Arab World: In the Sands of Babylon by Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji
Best Director from the Arab World: Merzak Allouache for The Rooftops
Best Actor (Specially Engraved Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Watch): Diego Peretti in The Reconstruction
Best Actress (Specially Engraved Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Watch): Judi Dench in Philomena

New Horizons / Afaq Jadida Competition
Black Pearl Award - New Horizons: Still Life by Uberto Pasolini
Special Jury Award: Blind Dates by Levon Koguashvili
Best Film from the Arab World: Before Snowfall by Hisham Zaman
Special Jury Award to a film from the Arab World: Villa 69 by Ayten Amin
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg in The Double
Best Actress: Tillotama Shome in Qissa and, Julia Wildschutt in Love Me
Special Jury Mention: Canopy by Aaron Wilson

Documentary Competition
Black Pearl Award Jake Eberts - Documentary: These Birds Walk By Omar Mullick & Bassam Tariq
Honorable Mention: InRealLife By Beeban Kidron
Special Jury Award: Who is Dayani Cristal? By Marc Silver
Honorable Mention: My Stolen Revolution By Nahid Persson Sarvestani
Best Film from the Arab World: Cairo Drive By Sherief Elkatsha
Best Director from the Arab World: Hamza Ouni For El Gort

Short Film Competition
Best Narrative: The Wound (Obida) directed by Anna Budanova (Russia)
Best Film from the Arab World: Though I know the River is Dry directed by Omar Robert Hamilton (Palestine, Egypt, Qatar)
Best Documentary: Le Jour a Vaincu la Nuit directed by Jean-Gabriel Periot (France)
Best Animated Short Film: Reality 2.0 directed by Victor Orozco Ramirez (Germany, Mexico)
Best Producer: Saïd Hamish for the film Zakaria directed by Leyla Bouzid (France, Tunisia)
Best Producer from the Arab World: Adila Bendimerad for the film The Days Before directed by Karim Moussaoui (Algeria)

Emirates Film Competition (presented by Dolphin Energy)

Short Narrative Competition
First Prize: Bidoon directed by Mohammed Al Ibrahim
Second Prize: With Time directed by Malak Quota
Special Jury Award: Daddy ABC directed by Hamad Al Awar

Short Documentary Competition
First Prize: Feeding Five-hundred directed by Rafed Al Harthi & Ray Haddad
Second Prize: Temsa7 directed by Latifa Al Darwish & Rouda Al Meghaiseeb
Special Jury Award: Bader directed by Latifa Al Darwish, Sara Al Saadi & Maaria Assami

Student Short Narrative Competition
First Prize: I Don't Understand directed by Noura Al Zarouni
Second Prize: Mirror directed by Ameera Madhi
Third Prize: Grief directed by Omnia Al Afifi

Student Short Documentary Competition
First Prize: Oops! directed by Reem Al Meqbali
Second Prize: Silent Art directed by Hana Mire
Third Prize: Against the Wind directed by Aisha Abdulla

Best Emirati Film
Daddy ABC directed by Hamad Al Awar

Best Cinematography Award
Mirror Cinematographer Hamda Al Qubaisi

Best Script Award
Bidoon Writer Mohammed Al Ibrahim

Showcase
Audience Choice Award: Enough Said By Nicole Holofcener

FIPRESCI and NETPAC

FIPRESCI Award: The jury will focus on films that are from the Narrative Feature, New Horizons and Documentary Feature Competition sections.
The Rooftops By Merzal Allouache
And,
El Gort By Hamza Aouni


NETPAC Award: The jury will select a film from the Narrative, New Horizons and Documentary Feature Competition sections. Documentary Feature Competition sections.
Harmony Lessons By Emir Baigazin

Our World (presented by Masdar)
Films devoted to broadening awareness of significant environmental and related issues. A jury of Masdar students awards a prize for the best film in Our World.
Fatal Assistance By Raoul Peck

Child Protection Award
The Ministry of Interior Child Protection Centre works to ensure the safety and security of children ensuring implementation and regulation of child protection legislation, policies and best international practices.

- Child Protection Award for Best Film: These Birds Walk By Omar Mullick & Bassam Tariq
- Child Protection Award for Best Script: Like Father, Like Son By Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Special Mention: Short Term 12 By Destin Daniel Cretton
- Special Mention: My name is Hmm... By Agnes Trouble
- Special Mention Shorts: Agri and the Mountain By Hasan Serin
- Special Mention Shorts: The Queen By Manuel Abramovich