The BI-ME eNewsletter
LOGIN:
Film telling UAE's history wins Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival Award
Source: BI-ME , Author: BI-ME staff
Posted: Tue March 24, 2009 9:56 am
www alibaba.com
Meet worldwide manufacturers, wholesalers
& importers
in Alibaba now!

UAE. A film by an Abu Dhabi student, Faisal Al Saari, and his team about the history of the UAE has won two prestigious awards given by the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF). A special screening was held today, as part of the 6th Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival, to show the winning film ‘Story of a Nation’. Faisal is awarded both the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival Award and the Annual ADMAF Creativity Award for this work. 

At yesterday's screening for an invited audience of students, media and guests of honour, Faisal was able to share his work, skills and creativity at the Abu Dhabi Men’s College (HCT). The screening was followed by a question and answer session with Faisal. 

Both ADMAF awards, established in 2004, seek to support and encourage young national artistic talent across the UAE, and are a key part of ADMAF’s education programme.  The Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival Award is offered to national university students who participate in the festival in the categories of Best Documentary, Film Production, Writing Skills, Poetry, Literature, Communication Skills and Art (Fine Art, Painting, Graphic Design, Photography). 

The Abu Dhabi Creativity Award seeks to support and promote young national talent from Abu Dhabi’s universities and recent graduates in the fields of visual and performing arts, literature and film.  The Award is offered to outstanding creative students and is valued at AED 25,000.

Faisal Al Saari is a communications and technology graduate from the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT). His film ‘Story of a Nation’ is a moving telling of the history of the UAE. The film takes in the four significant eras of the UAE: pre-unification, early unification from 1937, the death of HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nayhan, the late President of the UAE, and HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan, the current President of the UAE’s rule to date. 

Composing the soundtrack himself, Faisal invited a poet from Sharjah to write the accompanying Arabic poem in four parts, and then edited together selected clips from the archives at Abu Dhabi TV to provide a visual backdrop to the song. 

Faisal was presented with the Chopard-designed Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival Award by HE Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, the UAE Minister of Higher Education, during the Opera Gala opening concert on Saturday 21 March, which marked the launch of the 6th Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival. 

Now a leading Emirati artist and a committed student of the oud, Faisal Al Saari was delighted to receive these awards.

“I am honoured to receive these awards from ADMAF, an organisation that has done so much to support young artists in the UAE," he said. "Mrs Hoda Al Khamis-Kanoo has adopted music and the arts and I thank her dearly for her passion and support. 

“The arts are so important to the development of a country and I truly believe that if you want to understand a country you should look to their art.

“To all young people in the UAE, I would encourage you to take the opportunities that are available to you.  Now, more than ever, courses are available at the UAE’s colleges, at the Cultural Foundation and at other centres such as Beit Al Oud Al Araby, where UAE nationals and residents can truly seek out and develop their passions.”

These awards are organised by the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF), one of the region’s most important cultural bodies.  ADMAF runs a year-round programme of cultural and educational events, which its award programme forms part of. 

HE Hoda I Al Khamis-Kanoo, Founder of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation, said: “It is with great pleasure that ADMAF awards both the Annual Creativity Award and the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival Award to Faisal Al Saari.  These prestigious awards recognise excellence in the arts amongst the next generation of UAE artists, who we are delighted to be supporting as the future of the region’s growing and thriving arts scene. 

“Faisal was a clear winner for both awards.  Through the beautiful melody, carefully chosen words and archive footage, Faisal’s film lovingly depicts the history of our nation, the UAE. His passion for the arts and for music runs throughout his life and he is a worthy winner of this year’s awards.”

The highlight of ADMAF’s cultural season is the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival, now in its sixth year.  The festival continues to attract world-class artists from across the globe, this year including performances from the Bolshoi Ballet and Andrea Bocelli. 

The 2009 festival began with the Opera Gala Opening Concert on Saturday 21 March 2009 and runs for two weeks, closing on Thursday 2 April 2009. 

For more information on the 6th Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival visit www.admafestival.com 

MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS COMMENT & ANALYSIS

date:Posted: September 2, 2010
INTERNATIONAL. The triangle pattern has taken nearly 9 months so far, and a move over US$19.50 could start a multi-month run targeting US$26-US$29 per ounce for starters before a broad pullback.
date:Posted: September 1, 2010
UAE. Given the recent developments in Saudi Arabia and India, there is now a greater level of hope that the TRA and RIM will reach an agreement about the manner in which BB Messenger services are provided.
date:Posted: September 1, 2010
UAE. GCC Telecom markets are on the verge of saturation, while prices decline due to increasing competition, resulting in telcos profits being under very high pressure.