Beiruting News

"Sanctity" by Saudi director by Ahd Kamel won the Gold "Aleph" for Best Middle-Eastern Short Film during the closing ceremony of the 13th Edition of Beirut International Film Festival held on Thursday, October 10th at "Planete-Abraj", while "Out of Darkness" by Lebanese director Sonia Habib won the Best Middle-Eastern Documentary Film Award. "Baghdad Messi" by Iraki director Sahim Omar Kalifa, won the Silver "Aleph" for Best Middle-Eastern Short Film. The Third Prize for Short Films went to "Bobby" by Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui. "Scrap" by Saudi director Bader Al Homoud, was awarded the Special Jury Award (Orbit Award) for Short Films. "Broken Border" by Kurdish Iranian director Keywan Karimi, won the Silver "Aleph" for the 2nd Best Middle-Eastern Documentary Film. The Third Prize for Documentary Films went to "Feeding 500" by Emirati director Rafed Al Harthi. The jury at this year's festival was composed of Lebanese only, and included TV and Cinema producer and director Nigol Bezjian, Web and Social Media Editor at Future TV and documentaries' producer Diana Moukalled, and Chief Creative Officer / Founding Partner at Firehorse production Mouna Mounayer.. 
The Jury statement
The Jury issued the following statement: "We are bombarded every day with news, photos and events that we almost feel suffocated. Yet, when we get to experience part of our harsh reality through a well-produced film or documentary, we feel attracted to it given that the approach adopted in tackling this reality is sensitive, full of passion and criticism to what we are living ...This is the feeling we had as members of the jury of the Festival while watching the 23 films that took part in the "Short Films" and "Documentaries" competitions held at the this year's edition of Beirut International Film Festival ...Cross-borders smuggling, holocaust survival, the dream of seeing one of us turn into a football player, passion for cats or dogs, rape of women, women and driving, breaking the imposed stereotyped image of a system, the long road that can only be crossed by bike, love and social difficulties ... just to name a few, are topics around on which revolved the films that participated in this year's competitions ... Some of these movies was able to translate its idea with a high level of sensitivity, and some others were making their way for a better future ...This year, the number of short films reached 16 coming from Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia, while there were 7 documentaries coming from Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Kurdistan.This geographical diversity made the topics and the way they were treated even richer; This year's Festival was marked with the participation of 4 films coming from GCC countries. These movies were indeed a pleasant surprise to us, as jury members, especially that a major part of them tackled, in a highly professional way, sensitive and prohibited issues.Like every year, all the movies have been watched and evaluated based on two criteria: the idea and the implementation, noting that the points of view of the Jury mostly converged on the preferred ones.  And like every year, awards were considered a token of appreciation for the efforts of young and professional filmmakers that deserve to be supported, appreciated and pushed towards wider horizons.Having said this, we are aware of all the difficulties facing this sector and those who work in it, on the production, implementation and censorship levels, noting that this latter continues to constitute a major obstacle hindering the growth of the film industry and art in general. This year too, Beirut International Film Festival faced a censorship problem..."I Offered You Pleasure" is one of the two movies which screening was stopped. It actually participated in the short films' competition, however, the management of the Festival decided to withdraw it after it appeared that it has participated in previous festivals in Lebanon, which breaches the regulations of participation.Censorship nowadays is not governed by any real actual authority with the presence of digital screening platforms, which makes us wonder why would the  authorities insist on prohibiting what has become accessible to all?! Again, it is our battle, all of us, in this region, towards a free democratic future that will only be complete with a full cinematic and generally artistic freedom...Allow us to thank you all and to thank Beirut International Film Festival for having been able to go on with a high level of professionalism in spite of the hard times we are going through". "Société Générale" Award for Public Vote was granted to "Blancanieves", by Spanish director Pablo Berger.The Awards distribution ceremony was followed by the screening of "The Immigrant" by the American director James Gray, starring French actress Marion Cotillard and the American Joaquin Phoenix; the movie tackles the issue of the suffering of Polish immigrants to the United States. 



BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2013 AWARDS
Gold "Aleph"Best Short Film Sanctity by Ahd Kamel                
Silver "Aleph"Second Best Short Film Baghdad Messi by Sahim Omar Kalifa    
Bronze "Aleph"Third Best Short FilmBobby by Mehdi Barsaoui
"Aleph"OrbIt awardSpecial Jury Prize For Short FilmScrap by Bader Al Homoud        



"Aleph"SGBL awardBest Feature Film                       Audience Vote"Blancanieves" by Pablo Berger
Gold "Aleph" Best DocumentaryOut of Darkness by Sonia Habib

Silver "Aleph" 2nd Best DocumentaryBroken Border by Keywan Karimi
Bronze "Aleph" Third Best DocumentaryFeeding 500 by Rafed Al Harthi