The Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) today unveiled the lineup of the feature-length narratives and documentaries that will compete for Black Pearl Awards worth over $1 million during the upcoming Festival. Presented by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, this year’s MEIFF will run from October 8 to 17.

Peter Scarlet, the festival’s new Executive Director commented, “A film festival’s competition selections are the heart of its program, and we’re extremely proud to have assembled such a strong slate, especially with half these competing titles coming from the Middle East and North Africa, and the filmmakers who made them having an opportunity to have their work judged alongside work from the rest of the world. It’s also extremely encouraging that eleven films in each of these competitions are by filmmakers making their first or second work.”

The festival’s selections were made by Scarlet, Teresa Cavina, Kellen Quinn, Rasha Salti and Intishal al-Timimi, supported by a group of international program consultants.

MEIFF’S Narrative Feature Competition comprises 18 films, including two World Premieres, SON OF BABYLON (Ibn Babil) by Mohamed Al-Daradji (Iraq) and TRUE COLORS (Bil Awan Al Tabiyya) by Oussama Fawzi (Egypt), and one International Premiere (screening for the first time outside its country of production), COOKING WITH STELLA by Dilip Mehta (Canada).

Another film in the narrative competition, THE TRAVELER (Al Mosafer), a debut film written and directed by Ahmed Maher, and starring Omar Sharif, Khaled El Nabawy and Lebanese singing star Celine Abdel Nour in her first major film role, will be screened as the Opening Night Gala.
 

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