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THE Bahrain Film Days festival screened 55 Bahraini, Arab, Asian and international films over five-days at City Centre Bahrain, alongside a series of short films at Bahrain Fort’s seaside courtyard.
The event also honoured Sayed Khalifa Shaheen from Bahrain, Khalid Sadeeq from Kuwait and Sayed Dawood Abdel Sayed from Egypt at the opening ceremony in recognition of their outstanding achievements.
Among the Arab films shown were Egyptian movie Messages From the Sea (Rasa’il Min Il Bahar), Tunisian movie The Season of Men (Mawsim Il Rijal), Palestinian film My Love Will Wait For Me By The Sea (Habibi Biyistanani Enid Il Bahar), Emirati film The Sea’s Voice (Sawat Al Bahar) and Algerian movie Warship (Haraka).
International films presented included features from the US, Mexico and Denmark, alongside Asian films from several countries, including the Philippines, China, Iran, Turkey and Cambodia.
Naqsh Short Film Festival winners also had their films screened, as well as several movies shown in collaboration with the Bahrain Cinema Club.
Two seminars were also held at the fort. Sea in Film took place with panelists Dr Amal Al Jamar, from Egypt and Mr Ibrahim Al Arees, from Lebanon. And, Film and Television: Diverge or Separate was staged with panelists Khalil Al Damoon, from Morocco, Mamoon Albani, from France, and Adnan Madnaat, from Jordan.
Combining a number of countries and continents in sound, image and the spirit of the cinema, Bahrain Film Days festival was held under the theme Sea Cinema and held its closing ceremony at City Centre Bahrain’s screen 12 cinema in the presence of Culture Ministry Culture and Arts director Aqeel Abdulqader, as well as a number of artists and filmmakers.
The Culture Ministry helped produce 13 short films that feature the sea as a symbol, which were entered into a festival competition judged by the jury headed by Egytian Ali Abu Shadi, with Lena Hunain Hassan from Syria and Mohammed Hassan Ahmed from the UAE. The winning films were Pick Up by Salah Nass and Layla Albayti for Best Scenario, Shrine (Hathraa) by Salman Yousif for Best Director, Hymn on the Bank (Tarneema Ala Ilthafaaf) by Hussein Al Jamari for Special Jury Prize and Nostalgia by Ahmed Al Fardan for Best Film.
The festival was held in conjunction with the Culture Ministry’s Our Year of the Arts campaign and Manama, Asian Tourism City 2014.
