ON Student Short Film Festival Comes to a Successful Close

ON: Original Narrative: Sees exponential growth in second edition with 400 international entries narrowed to 65 competing films over 4 day festival

Dubai, February 25th, 2015 -  The Mohammed bin Rashid School for Communication (MBRSC) at the American University in Dubai (AUD) concluded the second edition of the Student Short Film Festival ON: Original Narrative last night with an awards ceremony. The event was attended by by Mr. Elias Bou Saab, AUD Executive Vice President and Mr. Ali Jaber, Dean of MBRSC in addition to student filmmakers, jury members, and AUD community members.

The winner for each category were: Fiction Winner: Yana directed by Boris Nikolov from Bulgaria and two special mentions for He thinks, She thinks directed by Ivan Stoessel from Argentina & Horn directed by Sungbin Byun from South Korea; Documentary Winner: Red white green directed by Tarek Raffoul from Lebanon who won also the People's Choice Award and two special mentions for Medulla directed by Melisa Miranda from Chile & Apart directed by Sami Shehade from Palestine. Animation Winner: Cartoon Away directed by Augusto Bicalho Roque from Brazil and two special mentions for Mr. Barrientos – Offside directed by Kike Florido from Spain & Sound of Flames directed by Vincent Gibaud from France. Best Screenplay Winner: “Helium” by AUD MBRSC Student Peter Moussa from Lebanon.

“We are proud as a committee to be able to attract such a high level of talented student filmmakers from around the world through the workshops and development opportunities we have offered. The diversity of the participants, their backgrounds and perspectives, have enhanced the cultural and educational dimensions of the festival,” commented Film Director Sophie Boutros, Student Affairs and Communication Manager at MBRSC and Chair of the Festival's committee. “ON has truly asserted itself as a leading film festival for students worldwide, as demonstrated by the growth in participants and audience, in addition to the immense media coverage of this edition,” she continued.  

During the festival which has grown from two to four days this year, 65 films from Australia, Morocco, Spain, Brazil, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Peru, Singapore, Egypt, Kuwait, France, India, Argentina, Korea, Syria, and Denmark amongst others competed for the different categories, including Best Documentary, Best Fiction, Best Animation, and Best Screenplay. The winners were chosen by a jury consisted of prominent figures from the film industry: Zeina Daccache, Lebanese director and advocate who's documentary Scheherazade's Diary was screened at the festival opening ceremony, Palestinian film critic Bashar Ibrahim, accomplished screenplay writer Inês Braga, creative producer/director Lotfi Bencheikh, filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala, Egyptian film critic Ahmad Shawky and multimedia specialist, Abdullah Al Shami and Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al Rashid.

“At Cadillac, we are thrilled to have participated in this exciting initiative, designed to tap into young creative minds and uncover the talent and potential of AUD students,” said Nadim Ghrayeb, Cadillac Brand Manager at General Motors Middle East. “Our intense two-day Cadillac Workshop at the festival proved immensely successful. It provided students with an engaging and interactive platform to fine-tune their film-making prowess and deepen their understanding of the Cadillac brand. We would like to congratulate the students once again; their final works absolutely exceeded our expectations!”

Jamal Al Sharif, Chairman of Dubai Film and TV Commission and Managing Director of Dubai Studio City, commented: 'It's great to see students and talents from all over the world participating in this special Festival. It is indeed a unique platform that offers a lot of opportunities for those young filmmakers to meet with real professionals, offering insights and valuable critiques.'

Jamal added: 'Dubai is an innovative hub that opens the door for every talent to grow and prosper, and our role as DFTC is to support the future generation of filmmakers from all nationalities to produce films, benefiting from the advanced infrastructure, diverse location, world class facilities and the magnificent strategic location Dubai enjoys. It is with this young generation that we are building the film industry in Dubai.'

Tarek Raffoul Winner of the best documentary commented: “My experience in ON Festival was amazing and I was so impressed by the level of professionalism this festival reached. I enjoyed watching films from different countries and meeting friends from other cultures. “About winning the People's Choice Award Raffoul added:” Leaving Dubai with 2 awards made me very happy and I am so thankful for my 2 characters Anna and Ratzi for making me so proud of my achievement in this film.”

The winner for each category were: Fiction Winner: Yana directed by Boris Nikolov from Bulgaria and two special mentions for He thinks, She thinks directed by Ivan Stoessel from Argentina & Horn directed by Sungbin Byun from South Korea; Documentary Winner: Red white green directed by Tarek Raffoul from Lebanon who won also the People's Choice Award and two special mentions for Medulla directed by Melisa Miranda from Chile & Apart directed by Sami Shehade from Palestine. Animation Winner: Cartoon Away directed by Augusto Bicalho Roque from Brazil and two special mentions for Mr. Barrientos – Offside directed by Kike Florido from Spain & Sound of Flames directed by Vincent Gibaud from France. Best Screenplay Winner: “Helium” by AUD MBRSC Student Peter Moussa from Lebanon.

The students had the opportunity to partake in a series of workshops to further their skills and industry knowledge including Oners (Long Take) Challenge, led by Roozbeh Kafi, Assistant Professor of Digital Production and Storytelling at AUD, Creating A Powerful Short Film Where Nothing Happens, led by Mr. Carlos Alvarez Vela, International Director, Producer & Cinematographer from Germany, Luc, Steven, Quentin & I (How Some Of The Big Ones Made It Big), led by Frida Chehlaoui, a brand consultant, a creative thinking university teacher and the founder of TheGoodVibesExperiment, a series of creativity programs for individuals, companies and academia, Nouraldin Al Yousuf, a prominent bilingual TV Presenter, Brand Influencer, Emcee and personality and Fadi Haddad, prominent writer, director, editor and teacher.

Through the Mohammed bin Rashid School for Communication, the ‘ON: Original Narrative – Student Short Film Festival' has become an annual tradition at the American University in Dubai and a platform for talented students worldwide.