‘Faasla’ Showcases DWC Students Artistic Talents

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Dr. Tayeb Kamali, Vice-chancellor of Higher Colleges of Technology inaugurated “Faasla” Art and Media Exhibition at the at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre (DUCTAC). Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, the exhibition displayed the projects created, designed and produced by Dubai Women’s College (DWC) Year Three Applied Communications’ students over the past three years.
Dr. Howard Reed, Director of DWC, praised the students’ work, expressing the college's enthusiasm for giving students the opportunity to ‘Practice the Future’ in the field of media and design. "This event is very special as it offers Applied Communications Department the opportunity to showcase the creativity, precision, and breadth of its students' projects."  Dr. Reed added that he is proud to see just how students have developed over the duration of their studies.  "It’s great that lots of employers have been invited to this exhibition and have the opportunity to see the creative potential DWC students have for working in their relevant fields.”
Some of the work displayed at Faasla received international recognition and awards such as the Cannes Film Festival, Gulf Film Festival, and Ibda’a Awards. Students have also created children stories in collaboration with DWC’s Education Department and Jerboa Publishing in Dubai.
Bureir Al Amri, Head of Emiratization at the Standard Chartered Bank, emphasized that this is not the first time the Bank and DWC collaborate to enrich students’ experiences and to facilitate their transition into their chosen careers.  “Standard Chartered supports Emirati talents and we have cooperated several times before with DWC by employing several of its graduates.  It is important for us to support Faasla as it presents new young Emirati talents to the markets. Such events are wonderful incentives empowering Emirati women and encouraging them to join the work force.”
DWC’s Applied Communications students produced very strong documentaries, public service announcements and feature films discussing issues of importance and interest not only to viewers in the United Arab Emirates, but also to international viewers. These issues and topics included social violence, maids, obeying parents, racism and accidents.
Ahlam Al Bannai, Faasla Project Student Manager, believes participating students did a great job producing top quality projects.   “All artwork shown at the Exhibition is high quality produced by students throughout the past three years. Projects include short films and documentaries, graphic design, journalism and photography. Most of the artwork received big success in big international film festivals like Cannes International Film Festival in France and also participated in the Gulf Film Festival with three other films like Am Arab, Heat the Beat and Jin Hunters which received great feedback from the industry.”
Applied Communications is one of five educational programs offered at Dubai Women’s College. More than 90 Emirati students are enrolled in the program, which combines theoretical and practical media studies. Graduates of DWC Applied Communications are general media practitioners, who are well-qualified to work in different media genres.