Glittering award ceremony brings DIFF curtain down
dubai — The prestigious Muhr Awards once again wrapped up a successful Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) on Wednesday night with deserving candidates from the Arab and wider world rewarded for their extraordinary filmmaking talent at the Madinat Theatre ceremony.
Egyptian Mohammed Hammad took home the Best Director award for Akhdar Yabes (Withered Green) while the Muhr Feature Jury Prize went to Lebanon’s Eliane Raheb for the film Mayvel ya Ghzayyel (Those Who Remain). Other successful participants included Julia Kassar who was given Best Actress for her performance in Rabih (Tramontane). The Best Actor award went to Ali Sobhi for his turn in Ali Mea’za We Ibrahim (Ali, The Goat and Ibrahim).
The Muhr awards round off a week of festivities, which has seen the 13th DIFF recorded as one of the most high profile to date. It began with one of the most famous recipients of the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award, Samuel L. Jackson, collecting his trophy alongside Bollywood star Rekha who received the same recognition. Such was the demand for Jackson’s ‘An Audience With’ on Friday, the queue for standby tickets was reportedly longer than ever previously been witnessed.
The Hindi film industry provided the extra star power with the leads of this year’s assigned blockbuster Befikre, Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor, delighting fans early on in the week. Monday’s Global Gift Gala — a DIFF charity staple — attracted the likes of Eva Longoria and Melanie Griffiths before Wednesday’s screening of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story brought cosplayers and enthusiasts to a special red carpet event for the latest in one of the world’s most popular franchises.
david@khaleejtimes.com