Israa Zakaria
Posted on: Friday, May 12, 2023 – 1:35 am | Last updated: Friday 12 May 2023 – 1:35 AM
The Saudi Film Festival, organized by the Film Society in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) and with the support of the Film Authority of the Ministry of Culture, announced the results of the winners of its ninth edition of the Short, Long and Documentary Film Awards, where the movie “Long Distances” won the Golden Palm Award for Gulf Film. Documentary.
The Tuwaiq Mountain Award for the best Saudi city was won by the movie “Al-Ardah Al-Najdiya”, while the movie “Trocage” won the Golden Palm Award (unique documentary subject), and the Golden Palm Award for the Jury Prize went to the movie “The Story of the King of Journalism”.
The movie “Under One Sky” won the Golden Palm Award for Best Documentary Film, and the movie “Wadi Road” produced by Ithraa won the Golden Palm Award for Best Actress for artist Aseel Omran.
As for the short films, the Golden Palm Award for the Gulf Film – Short Narrative was won by the movie “A Place in Time”, while the movie “Beast from the Sky” won the Golden Palm Award for Best Animation Film, and for the Abdullah Al-Muhaisen Award for the first film, the movie “Sulfur” was able to obtain it. And he shared with him the movie “Antidiak” that won the Golden Palm Award for Best Cinematography and the Golden Palm Award for Best Short Film.
As for the feature film competition awards, “The Last Couriers” and “The Wood Man” won the Golden Palm Award for the Gulf Film – Narrative, while “Abd” won the Golden Palm Award for Best Screenplay, and “The Crow’s Song” won two awards for the Palm. The Golden Palm Award for Best Cinematography and the Jury Award, and the movie “The Deserted Place” won the Golden Palm Award for Best Sound Design, and the Best Editing Award and Best Feature Film “Abd”, and Best Actor Issam Awad, while the actress Aseel Omran from the movie “Tariq al-Wadi” snatched the Palm Award Gold for Best Actress.
The Saudi Film Festival also included the announcement of the results of the production market, which witnessed the attendance of 20,000 visitors over a period of 6 days. The jury revealed the names of the winning films on Wednesday evening, with the closing of the curtain on the market’s activities, in the presence of a crowd of interested filmmakers, cinematographers and media professionals, where prizes were distributed. The arbitration committee is divided into four tracks, namely: post-production development, production support, and awards from supporting agencies, amounting to 2.5 million Saudi riyals distributed over 15 films, according to 3 criteria, which are the technical standard and the economic standard, in addition to the commercial or marketing standard.
The production market also witnessed 11 activities between developing, training and establishing partnerships between the participating parties. The market included the display of 26 participating films, in addition to the platforms of production agencies and filmmakers, while the market abounded with the conclusion of many agreements amid the participation of 14 production agencies throughout the days of the market.
