News: Winners @ the 2013 Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF)

Some of next year's favourites to be nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2014 Oscars - including films from Palestine and Singapore - won big at this year's Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).

Omar and Ilo Ilo were just two of the movies that won at the Muhr Awards ceremony, including the highly coveted Best Film in their respective categories.
Waleed Zuaiter picked up the award for Omar on behalf of the cast and director attending, while Singaporean director Anthony Chen had to leave Dubai earlier this week and so will have his award sent to him.

The awards were presented by His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to dozens of the Arab world’s best filmmakers in the Muhr Arab categories as well as their counterparts from Asia and Africa, comprising the most competitive and diverse competition since the inception of the awards. Over $575,000 in prize money was distributed to filmmakers.

THE WINNERS: 

Muhr Arab Feature:
Best Film: Waleed Zuaiter for OMAR - Palestine, UAE
Special Jury Prize: Nabil Ayouch for C’EST EUX LES CHIENS (THEY ARE THE DOGS) - Morocco
Best Director: Hany Abu Assad for OMAR - Palestine, UAE
Best Actress: Yasmine Raees for FATAT EL MASNAA (FACTORY GIRL) - Egypt, UAE
Best Actor: Hassan Badida for C’EST EUX LES CHIENS (THEY ARE THE DOGS) - Morocco
Special Mention: Mohammed Amin Benamraoui for WADAAN CARMEN (ADIOS CARMEN) - Morocco, Belgium, UAE
Special Mention: Raouia for her roles in ROCK THE CASBAH - Morocco, France and SARIROU AL ASSRAR (PILLOW SECRETS) - Morocco, Qatar

Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature:
Best Film: Ang Hwee Sim, Anthony Chen, Wahyuni A. Hadi For ILO ILO - Singapore
Special Jury Prize: Sepehr Seifi for MAHI VA GORBEH (FISH & CAT) - Iran
Best Director: Tsai Ming Liang for JIAO YOU (STRAY DOGS) - Taiwan, France
Best Actress: Yeo Yann Yann for ILO ILO - Singapore
Best Actor: Irrfan Khan for DABBA (THE LUNCHBOX) - France, Germany, India
Special Mention: Souleymane Démé for his role in GRIGRIS - France, Chad
Special Mention: Ritesh Batra for the screenplay of DABBA (THE LUNCHBOX) - France, Germany, India

Emirates NBD People's Choice Award:
Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee for FROZEN – USA
Amal Al-Agroobi  for THE BRAIN THAT SINGS - UAE

FIPRESCI:
FIPRESCI Short: Ahmed Yassin for ATFAL ALLAH (CHILDREN OF GOD) - Iraq, UK, Hungary
FIPRESCI Documentary: Zeina Daccache for SCHEHERAZADE’S DIARY - Lebanon
FIPRESCI Feature: Mohammed Khan for FATAT EL MASNAA (FACTORY GIRL) - Egypt, UAE

Muhr Emirati:
Special Mention: Mohammad Fikree for GIRL & IT - UAE
Best Director: Muna Al Ali for CONCEALMENT - UAE
Special Jury Prize: Claudia Corbelli and Greg White for AL JAARA (THE NEIGHBOUR) - UAE
Best Film: Abdullah Hasan Ahmed and Khalid Al Mahmood for LA TKHALEENY (DON’T LEAVE ME) - UAE

Muhr AsiaAfrica:
Muhr AsiaAfrica Short:
Special Mention: Cédric Ido for TWAAGA - Burkina Faso, France
Best Director: Sandeep Ray for SHIRNO BAHU (THIN ARMS) - India
Special Jury Prize: Halla Kim for THE WAY BACK - South Korea
Best Film: Askhat Kuchinchirekov for BENZIN BITTI (GAS IS OVER) - Kazakhstan

Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary:
Special Mention: Lynn Lee and James Leong for WUKAN: MINZU ZHI GUANG (WUKAN: THE FLAME OF DEMOCRACY) - Singapore
Best Director: Pin Pin Tan for TO SINGAPORE, WITH LOVE - Singapore
Special Jury Prize: Sara Rastegar for MES SOULIERS ROUGES (MY RED SHOES) - France
Best Film: Yoshiko Hashimoto and Shigeki Kinoshita for MATSURI NO UMA (THE HORSES OF FUKUSHIMA) - Japan

Muhr Arab:
Muhr Arab Short:
Special Mention: Camille Salameh for his role in AKAR (TROUBLED WATERS) - Lebanon
Special Mention: Ahmed Yassin for ATFAL ALLAH (CHILDREN OF GOD) - Iraq, UK, Hungary
Best Director: Ali Cherri for THE DISQUIET - Lebanon, France
Special Jury Prize: Haider Rashid for THE DEEP - Iraq, Italy
Best Film: Bavi Yassin, Nore Maatala for DE VERLOREN STEM (THE LOST VOICE) - Belgium, Iraq

Muhr Arab Documentary:
Special Mention: Zeina Daccache for SCHEHERAZADE’S DIARY - Lebanon
Best Director: Salma El Tarzi for ELE BEHEB RABENA ERFAA EDOH LEFOOK (UNDERGROUND ON THE SURFACE) - Egypt
Special Jury Prize: Diala Kachmar and Carole Abboud for GUARDIANS OF TIME LOST - Lebanon, UAE
Best Film: Karim Amer for AL MIDAN (THE SQUARE) - USA, Egypt

Errrrmmmmm, DIFF, please what happened to East,West & South Africa?