On Monday, many of the top award wining movies at last year's Dubai International Film Festival would be among the 160 films to be screened free at next month's Gulf Film Festival, organisers announced. 

To move ahead into the Film festival...

Moreover, movies by filmmakers from around the region are showcased in the annual festival, which on Monday revealed the entries in the features category of its official competition and that the Films at the festival, which runs April 11-17 at Dubai Festival City, include Iraqi director Karzan Kader's Bekas, winner of the People's Choice Award at DIFF 2012 and the film follows two young orphaned brothers living in Kurdistan during Saddam Hussein's rule.

Film from a female Saudi filmmaker....

GFF also presents another chance to watch the first film by a female Saudi filmmaker, Wadjda by Haifaa Al Mansour, which won the Muhr Arab Feature: Best Film and Best Actress Award at DIFF.

Other films in the competition...

Iraqi Kurdistan director Hassan-Ali's traditional Shirin; Leila Al Bayaty's musical road-movie Berlin Telegram; It's About To Rain, a drama about an Algerian father and his two half-Italian sons, by Haider Rashid; and Yemeni filmmaker Khadija Al Salami’s The Scream, about women’s issues and corruption in Yemen's 2011 uprising are also included in competition. 

According to Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Gulf Film Festival director, the festival in its sixth edition presents a panorama of the most important productions from the latest in Gulf cinema all of which demonstrate the significant filmmaking developments in the region.

To conclude...

The festival is an unique opportunity for audiences to come and enjoy a diverse range of standout films from Gulf filmmakers that form a solid and impressive foundation for the future of Gulf cinema.

Note: Festival screenings are free; visit gulffilmfest.com.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)