Film festival in Bahrain seeks entries
Manama, March 23, 2014
Submissions are open for an international short film festival being held in Bahrain later this year.
The third annual Naqsh Short Film Festival (NSFF 2014) aims to provide a supportive and inclusive regional hub for aspiring artists, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
Organiser Naqsh Films has introduced new categories this year, including Director's Choice for Saudi Arabian films, Asian Short Film and the first international category for animation films.
The festival will be held in October, but the exact date and venue are yet to be announced.
"We want to curate the most diverse festival, one that promotes regional talents to an international audience," said festival managing director Mohammed Maskati.
"Part of the motivation behind the festival is to make a venue available to aspiring artists to show their work."
He said the festival changed the rules for the Bahraini segment in order to include more participants.
"It used to be that only Bahrainis could participate for the competition portion," he explained.
"But we've now changed it so that anyone who has produced a film in Bahrain or about Bahrain in order to be more inclusive."
Maskati said the festival has screened 125 films in the last two years, with 87 screenings last year.
"We want both short feature films and documentaries," he said.
"Whatever we saw last year, we want to see something different this year.
"We want films that talks more about the lives of the people and human issues.
"There's a lot of films that talk about violence and have some cliche points.
"We want something that can capture the people's lives and get their attention."
Festival artistic director Mohammed Rashid Buali said they received submissions from over 10 countries last year and looked forward to more regional and international talents taking part.
NSFF 2014 is also introducing new categories in the Naqsh Creative Awards for Bahraini Films to promote local talent.
The categories are Best Bahraini Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Acting and Best Artistic Contribution.
There will also be a filmmaker of the Future Award for the best and most promising directorial debut.
All film entries for the Naqsh Creative Awards for Bahraini Films must meet at least one of the following eligibility conditions: the subject and story line of the film should be centred on Bahrain, the scenes in the film shot on location in Bahrain, or the filmmaker is of Bahraini nationality.
Deadline for submissions is August and all entries should be submitted online. - TradeArabia News Service
