DUBAI: MOHAMED EL HEBEISHY ARABNEWS

Sunday 14 April 2013

The opening ceremony of the Gulf Film Festival 6th edition took place in the weekend with the screening of Saudi film ‘Wajda.’
The Kingdom’s first film directed by a female director, Haifa Al-Mansour, tackles the role of women in Saudi society. It tells the story of a 10-year-old girl who dreams of riding a bicycle, and what she had to go through in order to realize her dream.
The highly acclaimed film is back in Dubai just after four months from scooping the Dubai Film Festival’s biggest award in the Muhr Arab Feature category. “Indeed it is an honor to be back in Dubai, and I hope ‘Wajda,’ and the team behind it, can do well this time too. ‘Wajda’ is not just a film to me, it is a personal experience which I dedicated five years of my life to” said Al-Mansour, the film’s director.
In the year’s edition of the Gulf Film Festival, ‘Wajda’ is competing in the Official Gulf Feature competition. But the Saudi cinema presence in the festival is not limited to ‘Wajda’; in the same competition there are two more Saudi films.
‘Sada’, or ‘Echo,’ tells the story of a young boy growing up with deaf and mute parents, and the dynamics and complexities of being in such an unusual situation. ‘Echo’ is the first long feature for Saudi director Sameer Arif. He coming from a TV background where he directed several TV commercials, documentaries as well as short movies. His work includes short movies ‘Eyes Without Soul’ and ‘Waiting,’ both featured in earlier editions of the Gulf Film Festival.
‘Grand Marriage’ is the third Saudi movie competing in the Official Gulf Feature competition. It tells the story of an Arab marriage and its two weeklong wedding ceremonies that are taking place in the exotic islands of Comoros. ‘Grand Marriage’ is the work of Saudi director and producer Faisal Al-Otaibi. Faisal previous work includes ‘The Fort,’ which won the third prize in Guf Film Festival Documentary Film competition back in 2008.
The official Gulf Feature competition is not the festival’s only competition. There are three more competitions; namely: Official Gulf Short Films, Gulf Student’s Short Films, as well as the International competition.
‘Scrap,’ a 13-minute short film revolving around the life of an old woman and a young girl living off trading in scrap material, is competing in the Official Gulf Short Films. ‘Scrap’ is the brainchild of interior designer turned filmmaker Bader Al-Homoud.
’Factory of Lies’ and ‘Sanctity’ are two Saudi films also competing in the Official Gulf Short Films.
The Gulf Student’s Short Films features a handful of Saudi films including ‘A Promise,’ ‘Back Seat,’ ‘Kaddad,’ ‘Just a Picture’ and ‘Eastern Winds.’
Best of luck to the Saudi films participating in the Gulf Film Festival!