BMW Group Middle East announced the winners of the MINI Film Festival 2007 during an exclusive gala event held in Dubai Media City. Omid Khoshnazar from Iran was the winner with his short animation film Labyrinth.
This is the second year running Omid has claimed top prize in the MINI Film Festival, as his animation film Zero Degree took first place in 2006. Clearly a promising upcoming filmmaking talent, Omid received an Apple Mac Pro with 30" Cinema Display screen and Final Cut Studio 5.1 software which will enable him to create more award-winning animations.
“The MINI Film Festival for its second year running has been a great success story for us at BMW Group Middle East,” said Phil Horton, Managing Director, BMW Group Middle East.
“With over 100 entries in the past two years, we believe that this platform for amateur film makers has become an integral part of the growing art and culture scene in the region. BMW Group is an avid supporter of cultural development across the world, with corporate social activities extending to art, music, design and also the environment. We aim to have mutually beneficial relationships with the local communities we operate in, and the MINI Film Festival is just one example of this commitment.”
Runner-up was Incredibly Celebrated by Aline Kabboul from Lebanon, a short film focusing on an alternative perspective of war with a birthday celebrated in a bunker. Although there are imposed realities in life, this film proves there is always humour and laughter in adversity. Aline received a CANON professional HD video camera for achieving second place.
Third place went to Khalil Dreifus Zaarour, also from Lebanon, for his film The Window. Khalil will receive a film course at a leading regional film institute for his intimate portrayal of a lonely old man in a Lebanese village.
Ali Hassam Mohammed Alameer from Saudi Arabia was voted the People’s Choice Award by the audience on the night, for his thought-provoking and deeply moving film The Child of Heaven. Inspired by a true story that created a storm in the local community, Ali believes that film is an important medium to have voices heard that would otherwise be lost. Ali received € 1000 from BMW Group Middle East to encourage him to continue his creative aspirations.
“The MINI Film Festival is a great way for us to reach out to the promising film communities around the Middle East, and offer our support for enhancing the region’s growing reputation as a vital emerging film hub,” said Raymond Gedeon, MINI Brand Manager for BMW Group Middle East.
“This would not be possible without the support of our partners and we would particularly like to thank the jury for their commitment to the success of the festival. We would also like to thank Dubai International Film Festival for their incredible support - having the backing of a world-class film festival organisation is an enormous complement to our efforts to establish the MINI Film Festival as a permanent and credible event.”
The four winners were selected from a short-list of ten finalists and judged by a team of professional industry representatives – Nawaf Al Janhi (Head of Arabic Programming, Dubai International Film Festival; Jamil Abu Wardeh (Head of Original Production, Showtime Network); Arsalan Mohammed (Film Critic, Time Out Dubai); Alaa Karkouti (Film Critic, Emirates Today) plus Wissam Haroun & Dar S Danesh (Founders, eQuinoxe Arabiya) – who deliberated the merits of the winners based on criteria of creativity and originality.
The three winners and the ‘People’s Choice’ award films are now available for viewing online at www.MINI-me.com.
