Layla Kaylif, Khalifa Al Muraikhi, and Shahad Ameen
Courtesy of IWC Schaffhausen
It certainly isn’t easy being a filmmaker; one of the most difficult aspects of transforming a vision into cinematic reality is finding funding. For this reason, Swiss luxury watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen holds the annual IWC Filmmaker Award, which aims to support directors from the Gulf take their projects from the script to the big screen. At this year’s upcoming Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), three directors—Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Shahad Ameen, and Layla Kaylif—will present their projects to compete for a cash prize of US $100,000. A panel of accomplished actors and directors (previous judges include Emily Blunt, Marc Forster, and Cate Blanchett) will determine the winner.
Renowned Qatari director Khalifa Al Muraikhi has already won awards for The Blind Girl at the Cairo International Film Festival and for Threads Beneath Sands at the Oman International Documentary Festival. The director’s latest project, Sahaab, tells the tale of aspiring falconers preparing to take part in a race.
Shahad Ameen isn’t new to DIFF; she premiered her short film Eye & Mermaid at the festival in 2013. The Saudi director has previously been nominated for Best Short Film at the Stockholm Film Festival but will be vying for attention from the judges at DIFF with Scales, a fantasy feature that follows the story of Hayat, a pre-adolescent teen faced with fulfilling her destiny as a hunted mermaid.
Aspiring Emirati director Layla Kaylif is the founder of the Dubai-based film production company Canopus Films. Her latest feature, The Letter Writer, is a romantic drama that tells the story of a young boy, Khalifa, who uses his skills as a professional letter writer for personal gain at the expense of his trusting customers.
The 12th Dubai International Film Festival will take place from December 9th to 16th. Click here for more information.
