THE Bahrain Film Festival is back with a bang after two years with artists from 28 Arab countries submitting around 300 short films so far.
The second edition of the festival will be held in-person from October 1 to 5, and submissions will continue to be accepted until August 30.
The event is being organised by the Bahrain Cinema Club under the slogan ‘Cinema for You’ and patronised by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca).
Club deputy chairman Yusuf Fulad and technical and artistic director Ammar Zainal, who head the festival committee, are optimistic about the event, which they believe would leave a signature mark in the history of the club and the nation’s cinema sector.
“We have received almost 300 submissions from 28 Arab countries, which is a great response,” Mr Fulad told the GDN.
“This reflects the progress in the field, the passion and commitment of the younger and older generation alike for cinema, which is an entertainment medium for the masses.
“We hope to see more entries before submissions close on August 30.”
The submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts who will shortlist a few films to showcase at the festival.
However, the club couldn’t reveal how many would be chosen finally for the event.
Bahrain Cinema Club, a non-profit cultural institution operating under the umbrella of Baca, was founded in April 1980 with the aim of spreading film culture, awareness and stimulating the local film movement.
“The festival aims to showcase a cultural cinematic event which will be a qualitative addition to the film scene in Bahrain. It will present a bright civilised image of the kingdom besides placing it on the map of film festivals in the Arab world,” explained Mr Fulad.
“The event also seeks to celebrate young Bahraini and Arab talents and provide a suitable environment for advancing their creativity.”
Mr Fulad, a member of Bahrain Cinema Club since 1981 and who has held several lead positions mostly as chairman, highlighted its progress over the last few decades. The club screens a cinema every Wednesday at its Juffair premises for members and guests.
“We have organised some festivals in the past like the Tunisian Film Week in March 1986, the Film Week of the Egyptian film director Shadi Abdel Salam in 1987, the Egyptian New Cinema Festival in October 1993 and the International Arab Cinema Festival in March 2000,” Mr Fulad said.
“We launched the Bahrain Film Festival two years ago, but following the pandemic, movies had to be screened online and awards were given away virtually as well.
“We are glad about the upcoming in-person festival – the second edition.”
The movies that will be screened at a soon-to-be-announced location over the five days will mainly be in Arabic with English subtitles.
They will be under three categories – short movie, short documentary and short animation. Awards will also be given away in these three categories besides one for the best movie by students and a special jury award.
“Being Arabic filmmakers, we are expecting all the films in Arabic with subtitles in English, while some of them are silent movies and some animated as well,” said Mr Fulad, a retired Civil Aviation Authority and Transportation Ministry employee.
“We have great Bahraini representation thus far – and we expect more to come in the next two weeks.”
Entries should not exceed 30 minutes in duration and the film-maker must be an Arab for the film to qualify.
English subtitles are mandatory. The material should not have been exposed on the Internet or social media and not produced before 2020.
For details contact https://bahrainfilmfestival.org
raji@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))