The Award raises awareness among the youth about human rights, encourages them to share their thoughts and experiences and, ultimately, creates an educated generation that upholds human rights.

Dubai, September 25, 2017 – The Community Development Authority (CDA) in Dubai has announced the third edition of the Mansoor Bin Mohammed Short Film Award, during a press conference held today (Monday, September 25) in Dubai.

The award seeks to encourage the youth to innovate and utilise their media and arts skills to promote human rights and the social values of UAE society. It underlines the CDA’s efforts to raise awareness among the youth about human rights, encourage them to share their thoughts and experiences and, ultimately, create an educated generation that upholds human rights.

This year’s edition of the award covers three main subjects: tolerance and moderation, equality and fighting discrimination, and volunteer work. These topics reflect the UAE values of positivity, tolerance and acceptance, especially with more than 200 different nationalities living in the country in harmony.

The Union Coop is sponsoring this year’s event, in an effort to emphasise the importance of partnership with private sector with regards to programmes and initiatives that spread social awareness and achieve sustainable development.

Maitha Al Shamsi, Executive Director of CDA’s Human Rights Sector, said: “The Mansoor Bin Mohammed Short Film Award this year resonates with the spirit of the Year of Giving, which formed an ideal platform to cement the values of tolerance, generosity, coexistence and moderation within the UAE community, in addition to promoting volunteer work as a cornerstone to social cohesion and solidarity.”

“The award targets the youth, first and foremost, given their essential role in leading the development process, and seeing as they are the largest and most effective segment of society,” Al Shamsi continued. “The award also seeks to encourage them to participate in raising awareness around pressing social issues, and to apply their skills and talents to finding innovative solutions. Applicants are also encouraged to be innovative in the way they present their ideas and ambitions in their submissions.”

Shoaib Al Hammadi, Union Coop’s Marketing Manager, said: “Our support for the Mansoor Bin Mohammed Short Film Award stems from our commitment to stand by any and all social organisations that contribute to the development of the community and promote the values of tolerance, generosity and coexistence. The Union Coop seeks to promote social responsibility and support the most strategic sectors in Dubai; we dedicated AED200 million to support these sectors in 2016 and 2017, which makes us the highest private-sector contributor offering financial and moral support to the emirate’s general public, not to mention the numerous initiatives and events that help upgrade our services.”

The award targets young people, aged 18 to 30, and will evaluate submissions in a two-stage process. In the first stage, the entries will be evaluated in accordance with the categories and conditions of the award, while in the second, films will be presented to the jury – headed by Emirati director Masood Amarullah, Director of the Dubai International Film Festival – and will be evaluated based on to two main criteria: the film’s message or the idea or issue it raises, and its technical aspects.

Participants from any nationality can submit their films, provided they are a resident of the UAE and that their films had not been entered in previous competitions. Entries are accepted on an individual as well as group basis, as long as the participant sheds light on a particular phenomenon, issue or idea that corresponds to the main subjects of the award.

The first-place winner will receive a AED30,000 cash prize, while second place gets AED20,000 and third wins AED15,000. Participants can submit their application online via wetransfer.com to the email address human.rights@cda.gov.ae. Alternatively, candidates can deposit their physical applications at CDA’s headquarters in Al Hudaiba Building.

For more information, please visit www.cda.gov.ae

https://gulftoday.ae/portal/78f72bfd-30f8-4a03-b7fa-04b87b4dc6bd.aspx

https://www.dubaicityguide.com/site/news/news-details.asp?newsid=63368&newstype=Local%20News

https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/education/short-film-award-for-promotion-of-human-rights-launched-1.2095587

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/dubai/cda-calls-for-short-film-award-entries-on-human-rights