Debutant Indian director Gurvinder Singh's ‘Alms for a Blind Horse', which created waves at the Busan festival, won a Special Jury Prize in the New Horizons section of the recent Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
The tale of suffering of a small village community in Punjab is strong and moving, especially as the director uses a non-professional cast and silence to depict the hidden violence.
Quite different is ‘Marathon Boy,' a rivetting documentary about a three-year-old marathon runner from Odisha, which won two awards, including the Best New Director and the Netpac Awards.
U.K.-based Gemma Atwal heard about Budhia, the child-runner, and the man who discovered and trained him, Biranchi Das, on a BBC programme and went to Odisha to film him, never imagining she would encounter a tale of politics, corruption, intrigue and tragedy. It's a film that must be seen and distributed widely in India, for people to be aware of how and why talent is stifled in the country.
The Best Actress Award in the Narrative Feature section was won by veteran Karnataka stage actress B. Jayashree, now an MP, for her role in a moving and powerful S. African film about racial and economic tensions, ‘Lucky' is by Indian director Avie Luthra.
Satirical story
Talented filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni's new film, ‘The Temple,' was much appreciated, when it was screened at the dazzling, new open-air theatre of the festival. The young director employs humour, in a satirical story set in a village that pokes fun at religion, politics and urbanisation with delightful ease.
Well-known Iranian Directors Marjane Satrapi and Ashgar Farhadi won the top awards for their already-acclaimed films, ‘Chicken With Plums' and ‘Separation' respectively.
“All I did was portray the reality,” said Farhadi about his film that has won the top award at Berlin and has been to more than 20 festivals (it will be screened at IFFI, Goa, “but I've realised that the more ‘local' I get in my films, the more it appeals to international audiences!”
Farhadi was presented the ‘Middle East Film-Maker of the Year' Award by Variety magazine. He said during his awards speech, “Cinema removes differences, while politics increases them. That's why politicians and film people clash!” He was referring to the problems faced in Iran by their filmmakers, including the recent arrest of six directors.
“We are disturbed, but as creative people, we always hope things will improve,” pointed out filmmaker Seyed Mohsen Hashemi, a member of the large Iranian film delegation, which also included two Jury members.
With the ‘Arab Spring' conflicts hogging the world's attention, it was not a surprise that one of the important panel discussions at the festival was entitled, ‘The Arab Spring and Its Effects on Film making'.
Most of the countries affected by the ‘Arab Spring' uprisings were present at the festival, whose chief aim was to promote and project Arab cinema.
One was delighted to meet many brilliant female directors from the Arab countries, some of whose films have been featured in top festivals such as Cannes: Annemarie Jacir from Palestine, Leila Kilani from Morocco, Khadija Al Salami from Yemen, Maysoon Pachachi from Iraq, Jocelyn Saab from Lebanon, Nujoom Alghanem from UAE and Kamla Abu Zukri from Egypt.
An important movie at the festival, was ‘18 Days', a series of short films, by 10 filmmakers from Egypt, including well-known names such as Yousry Nasrallah, based on their personal responses to the historic revolution in Egypt recently.
Another important Egyptian film that won two awards at the festival was ‘Asma,' based on the real-life story of a woman who had AIDS, and dared to go public about it. Well-known actress Hend Sabry, who played the lead, declared that it was a role which was as daring and pioneering as the Egyptian Revolution.
‘This Narrow Place ' from Lebanon and ‘Sur la Planche' from Morocco, harrowingly portrayed the travails of Arab migrants outside their homeland and also won awards.
The latter film, with its unique style and brilliant performances by a non-professional cast that had made an impact in Cannes, will be screened at International Film Festival of India, Goa .
It was impressive to see the wide range of cash prizes. The Short Film genre alone had four categories , to encourage new, local talent.
Within the framework of its wide range of awards, the festival even had an Emirati Film Competition, for Short Films from the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries .
For local talent
The festival proudly screened this year the first feature film that was totally funded and shot in the UAE, ‘Sea Shadows.' With their avowed aim to foster Arab talents, the festival has a year-long film projects such as the Sanad Lab project for pitching and industry guidance, the Sanad Fund for development and post –production assistance, and the new Sanad Emirati Fund for Short Film projects from the GCC countries.
A unique section, which is also competitive, was ‘Our World' that focused on Environment-related docu films, a subject very important to this desert-island country. The section was sponsored by the amazing ‘Masdar City Environment Complex', with its natural gas, solar panels and battery cars.
The event had a rich selection of international films, including a special ‘showcase' section of top, award-winners from around the world. The Black Pearl Career Excellence Awards were given to two global film personalities, director Michael Winterbottom and actress Tilda Swinton, noted for their highly individualistic work.
“ We are trying to build up a film culture in this country,” stated Festival Director Peter Scarlet. He has worked previously with the Cinematheque in Paris and the Tribeca Festival in New York. He is determined to use his experience and expertise to make the Abu Dhabi festival a vibrant one for Arab cinema in the region.
Judging from the way it went, the festival, now in its fifth year, has a lot of cinematic excitements in store.
