Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

The third Al Ain Film Festival, which will take place in Al Ain from Jan.23-27, will offer the audience 378 films and a bouquet of distinctive events celebrating the works of most prominent filmmakers, professionals and fresh young talents over a period of five days.

The impressive success of the first and second editions of the Festival, with the testimony of the audience and the critics alike, has placed the festival on the list of international festivals.

The Festival continues to support local and Gulf filmmakers by implementing new initiatives, various programmes, distinctive shows and agreements. The festival aspires to become the most prominent platform for discovering and presenting the best productions and talents of cinema in the region.

The exceptional difficult circumstances caused by the pandemic has failed to stop filmmakers from participating in the festival with more than 378 films, which confirms their confidence in the Festival.

The festival will screen films of all genres — from fiction and documentary to long and short, which will compete with each other for prizes in the official competitions: Falcon Emriati Film, Falcon Gulf Feature Film, Falcon Gulf Feature Short Film, Falcon Student Films, Falcon Resident Films, and the special competition “Make Your Film in the Time of Corona”.

Announcing the details, Founder and Director General of the Festival Amer Salmeen Al Murry said that a number of distinctive European films, which have met with success in Europe and some of the international film festivals, will be screened during the Festival.

He said that he has reached an agreement with the ‘European Union’ office, with the aim of exchanging experiences and cultures in this field, and providing an opportunity to Emirati and Gulf audiences to watch various films of high artistic value.

Through its summer programme at the weekends, the Festival will screen a number of European films, and each week will be devoted to a specific country, in addition to organising workshops by filmmakers from various European countries.

The festival has instituted ‘Fareed Ramadhan Award’ for the Best Screenplay for a long Gulf film. The award is aimed at encouraging the scriptwriters as well as to honour the spirit of the late Bahraini writer and screenwriter, Fareed Ramadhan, whose writings have enriched Bahraini and Gulf cinema in general.

The festival will honour a number of film professionals for their achievements, recognising their great contributions to the advancement of the art.