Filmmakers Recognized for their Outstanding Work

On October 16th, at the Opening Night of the 12th annual Arab Film Festival, juried awards were given to Arab filmmakers who have been recognized for their contributions to cinematography.

The Noor Awards were given at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. A jury composed of distinguished members of the film and academic communities selected the winning films. Cash prizes were given to the director in four categories: Best Long Fiction, Best Long Non-Fiction, Best Short Fiction and Best Short Non-Fiction.

In addition, the Arab Film Festival's board of directors presented a Lifetime Achievement Award honoring the work of the late Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine.

"Each year the festival offers inspiring films that illuminate Arab lives and present authentic narratives as well as provide insights into the beauty, talent and diversity of Arab culture," said Michel Shehadeh, executive director of the Arab Film Festival. "The Noor Awards shine a special light on filmmakers from the Arab world and from the Arab diaspora who break new artistic and cultural ground. This award recognizes their artistic excellence and their work at building cultural, artistic and human bridges. These are filmmakers who receive little visibility in the United States."

"Paloma Delight" (full length fiction, Algeria 2007) by Nadir Mokneche was selected as the Noor Award winner for Best Long Fiction Film.

"The Yellow House" (Algeria, 2008) by Amor Hakkar received an Honorable Mention in the Long Fiction Film.

In the Best Short Fiction category "Clean Hands Dirty Soap" (Egypt, 2007) directed by Karim Fanous was selected.

The Honorable Mention was presented to "Tenbak" (United Arab Emirates, 2008) directed by Abdullah Hassan Ahmed.

"Life After the Fall" (Iraq, 2008) directed by Kasim Abid, and shot over four years, was selected as the Noor Award winner for Best Long Non-Fiction Film.

"Out of the Frame" (Iraq, 2007) directed by Nizar Annadawi was selected as the Best Short Non-Fiction film.

After the Noor Awards ceremony the festival's Opening Night film "Waiting for Pasolini," a U.S. premiere, was shown to a packed house.

From the Arabic word for "light," the Noor Awards were established to celebrate filmmakers whose enlightened and original works outshine others in their category. The directors of the winning films received cash prizes as follows: Best Long Fiction ($2,000); Best Long Non-Fiction ($2,000); Best Short Fiction ($500) and Best Short Non-Fiction ($500).

This year's Noor Awards jury members were: Professor Nezar Al Sayyad, chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley; Jamal Dajani, Senior Director of Middle East Programming for LinkTV; Dr. Jess Ghannam, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health Sciences at UCSF and president of the san Francisco Arab Cultural and Community Center; Irina Leimbacher, filmmaker and co-programmer of Kino 21; Simone Nelson, artist, producer and entertainment industry consultant; and Torange Yeghiazarian, playwright, director and actor as well as the founding artistic director of Golden Thread Theatre.

This year's Arab Film Festival features more than 70 films from 18 countries in 18 in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose and Los Angeles. In addition, films were shown on Bay Area university campuses and, as part of the Festival in the Schools, to more than 1,000 high school students.