BBC Arabic announced Monday the Aan Korb (Up Close) Film Festival. The festival, which aims to encourage filmmakers concerned with the Arab uprisings in January 2011 and onwards, will be held in October in London, but applications will be accepted from now until 2 May 2014. Filmmakers can be of any nationality or age. The applications are open for short films, feature films, documentaries, investigative journalism reports and citizen journalism. Pieces can be in any language, but the submitted work must have English subtitles. The feature films must be more than 40 minutes long, while the short films must be between 3 and 40 minutes long. Documentaries have to be between 25 and 90 minutes long, while the investigative journalism reports must be between 10 and 50 minutes long, and the citizen journalism reports must be between 3 and 30 minutes long. All entries should be made after December 2010 and should focus on the Arab uprisings and their consequences or underlying causes. The citizen journalism is open to non-professionals who are interested in journalism. Films can be submitted on Vimeo.com or on DVD or USB via regular mail, for which the sender should bear the costs. Applicants can submit films in more than one category. The winning film in each category will be screened at the BBC Arabic Film and Documentary Festival at the BBC Radio Theatre in London. As part of the festival, administrators will bestow the BBC Arabic Young Journalist Award, which is open to young journalists aged 18 to 30. The award will be in documentary, investigative and citizen journalism categories. The winner will be awarded £10,000, which will go toward executing a project in development that might be commissioned by the BBC. "The BBC Arabic Film and Documentary Festival aims to draw young talent from around the world and to give filmmakers the platform to share their distinctive journalistic and artistic work," said Tarik Kafala, head of BBC Arabic said. "Hosting the festival in London will also benefit British audiences. Many people in the UK know little about Arab cinema, the challenges of film making in the region and the personal stories behind the news. We hope the festival will bring them closer to the Middle East and to some of the people telling its stories. We are delighted to run this festival in partnership with the British Council." The festival also aims to promote Arab filmmakers to a wider audience. More information is available on the BBC website.
