The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) today announced 16 projects that will take part in its co-production market for regional filmmakers, the Dubai Film Connection (DFC), with the aim of taking the participating scripts to screen. The DFC, now in its seventh year, introduces Arab filmmakers to international film professionals and organisations and offers over US$100,000 (Dh376,000) in award mone

Fiction

• A Reverence for Spiders, by Faiza Ambah / Saudi Arabia

• Bastard, by Uda Benyamina / Morocco

• Chedda, by Damien Ounouri / Algeria

• Gaza, DC, by Rashid Masharawi / Palestine

• God Protect My Daughter, by Leyla Bouzid / Tunisia

• Heatwave, by Joyce A Nashawati / Lebanon

• Kharouf, by Ahmed Ibrahim / Egypt

• Trees Also Die, by Rabih El-Amine/ Lebanon

• Until the End of Time, by Yasmine Chouikh / Algeria

• Men in the Sun, by Mahdi Fleifel / Palestine

• The Flag, by Firas Khoury / Palestine

Documentary

• Dangerous Profiles, by Mark Lotfy / Egypt

• Even to China, by Yanis Koussim, Mohamed Hireche / Algeria

• Illusion, by Bavi Yassin / Iraq

• The Forgotten, by Ghada Terawi / Palestine

• The True Story Behind Me, by Maryam S Jum’a / Jordan

The Dubai Film Connection awards include a new €10,000 (Dh50,000) award from the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC) in France, a US$10,000 (Dh36,700) prize from Front Row Filmed Entertainment and the Kuwait National Cinema Company, a €6,000 prize from ARTE France, three DIFF awards of $25,000, a €5,000 award to a project that is from a member country of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and five accreditations for producers from the Arab world to the prestigious Producers Network at Cannes 2013.

The DFC has been running on the sidelines of the Dubai Film Market, DIFF’s platform for industry programming which includes seminars, networking events and pitching sessions, since 2007.

DIFF runs from December 6 to 14.

[ artslife@thenational.ae ]