In its 13th Year, Arab Film Festival
Hosts the 3rd Noor Awards Ceremony
Filmmakers Recognized for their Outstanding Work

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – On October 15th, 2009 at the Opening Night of the 13th annual Arab Film Festival, juried awards were given to Arab filmmakers who have been recognized for their contributions to cinematography. The Noor Awards were given at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. A jury composed of distinguished members of the film and academic communities selected the winning films. Cash prizes were given to the director in four categories: Outstanding Long Fiction, Outstanding Long Non-Fiction, Outstanding Short Fiction and Outstanding Short Non-Fiction.

“Each year the festival offers inspiring stories and images through films that illuminate Arab lives and present authentic narratives as well as provide insights into the beauty, talent and diversity of Arab culture,” said Michel Shehadeh, executive director of the Arab Film Festival. “The Noor Awards shine a special light on filmmakers from the Arab world and from the Arab diaspora who break new artistic and cultural grounds. This award recognizes their artistic excellence and their work at building cultural, artistic and human bridges. These are filmmakers who receive little visibility in the United States.” He said

Eye of the Sun (full length fiction, Egypt 2008) by Ibrahim El Batout was selected as the Noor Award winner for outstanding fiction feature.

Casa
Negra (Morocco, 2008) by Nour-Eddine Lakhmari received an honorable mention for fiction feature.

In the best short fiction category Fatenah (Palestine, 2009) directed by Ahmad Habash was selected.

The honorable mention was presented to This Palestinian Life (Palestine, 2008) directed by Philip Rizk.

Tea on the Axis of Evil (Syria, 2009) by Jean Marie Offenbacher, was selected as the Noor Award winner for outstanding documentary.

Tunnel Trade (Palestine, UK, 2007) directed by Laila El-Haddad & Saeed Taji Farouky was selected as the oustanding short documentary.

After the Noor Awards ceremony the festival’s Opening Night film Pomegranates and Myrrh by Najwa Najjar, a U.S. premiere, was shown to a packed house, and a Q&A with the director afterwards.

From the Arabic word for “light,” the Noor Awards was established to celebrate filmmakers whose enlightened and original works outshine others in their category. The directors of the winning films received cash prizes as follows: Best Long Fiction ($2,000); Best Long Non-Fiction ($2,000); Best Short Fiction ($500) and Best Short Non-Fiction ($500).

This year’s Noor Awards jury members were: tyle="font-size:100%;">Rami Alayan is a screenwriter living in San Francisco who co-produced Lesh Sabreen?, a short fiction film that participated in this year’s Arab Film Festival; Dr. Emily Benichou Gottreich is Vice Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at U.C. Berkeley and a faculty member in the Department of History and in International and Area Studies; Norma Shiheiber holds a degree in Journalism from SFSU and a Bay Area filmmaker whose work was screened in last year’s Arab Film Festival; Ziad Abbas is the cofounder of the Ibdaa Cultural Center in Palestine, he is also a journalist is the Associate Director of the Middle East Children’s in Berkeley; Serge Bakalian is the Managing Director of Golden Thread Productions; Dr. Jess Ghannam is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health Sciences at UCSF. He is a filmmaker and can be heard on KPOO co-hosting the talk radio show Arab talk with Jess and Jamal; Prof. Nezar Al Sayyad is an architect, a planner, an urban designer and urban historian. He is a professor of Architecture and Planning at UC Berkeley where he serves as the Associate Dean for the College of Environmental Design and Chairs the University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

For more information about the Arab Film Festival, visit www.aff.org or call 415-564-1100