Veteran film professionals and artistes from around the world will participate as jury members for the Muhr Arab, Muhr AsiaAfrica, and the Muhr Emirati competitions at the seventh Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).

The jury members for the seven categories in the festival's in-competition segment include filmmakers, writer, actors/actresses, producers, programmers, and film critics.

They will evaluate over more than 75 shortlisted feature films, short films, documentaries, and pick more than 30 award winners this year. Awards will be presented in acting, directing, cinematography, and scriptwriting, in addition to excellence and jury awards, in addition to prizes exceeding $600,000 in prize money.

This year, the DIFF Muhr Arab Awards received more than 400 submissions from 42 countries; its Muhr AsiaAfrica competition drew more than 445 entries from more than 62 nations in three categories - documentaries, short films and feature films.

Film critic Samir Farid, will be joined by writer/poet/and Riyadh Film Festival member Ahmed Al-Mulla, and critic/poet Ibrahim Abdul Karim Al Mulla to evaluate the competition’s inaugural Muhr Emirati submissions, introduced this year.

Award-winning filmmaker Michel Khleifi will lead the Muhr Arab Features jury, staffed by renowned Saudi Arabian author Abdo Khal, actress Maya Sansa, actor Hesham Selim, and producer Bertha Novarro; while producer Donald Ranvaud (president), and filmmakers Tahani Rached and Hakim Bellabes will evaluate the Muhr Arab Documentaries.

Judging Muhr AsiaAfrica features are filmmakers Johnnie To (president), Asif Kapadia, and Garin Nugroho, film critic Derek Malcolm, and programmer Jeremy Segay.

Filmmakers Anand Patwardhan (president), Francois Verster, and Jean-Pierre Rehm will evaluate the Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentaries.

Director Rakshan Bani-E’temad (president), Producer Michel Kammoun and film critic Hannah McGill, Former Artistic Director of the Edinburgh Film Festival, will evaluate the Muhr Arab and AsiaAfrica short films.

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, artistic director of the Dubai International Film Festival, said: “The in-competition Muhr Awards have played an integral role in encouraging filmmakers from the Arab world, Asia, and Africa to step forward and create ground-breaking films through a substantial platform like DIFF.”

“We have drawn the finest film professionals representing various aspects of the industry to evaluate the entries. They will benchmark against international standards highlighting the top notch quality of films that the Muhr honours,” he added.

DIFF 2010 will be held from December 12 to 19. – TradeArabia News Service