press release :5 BIFFannounced the completion of its preparations

Posted on September 3, 2013

Ladies and Gentlemen of the media

Greetings to you all

Baghdad International Film Festival announced the completion of its preparations for its fifth edition  that is to be held in October 6-10, 2013.

The festival's organizers said in press releases that this year's round is by far the largest because of the number of participating countries and films. In fact, the number of participating countries has duplicated this year, if compared with last year as it has risen from 40 countries to 60.

More than 600 films have been submitted to the different competitions of the festival. The short-listed films will be classified and screened under one of the following official competitions:

1. The official competition for feature films
2. The official competition for short films
3. The official competition for documentaries
4. The official competition for Arab Women Filmmakers
5. The official competition for Human Right films
6. Horizons Competition for Iraqi Filmmakers

The festival's organizers have mentioned that this year is remarkable for the variety of different filmic genres and the participation of prestigious European production companies as well as Latin American countries in the festival.

As for the Arab participation in the festival, it has been announced that most of the Arab countries are participating which is proof of the festivals solid connection and interaction with the Arab world in its totality. Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Qatar, Emirates, Palestine, Algeria, Syria, Lebanon, in addition to Iraq will be participating this year.

The festival's organizers expect a heated competition over the awards because of the distinguished level of the participating films.

Two international festivals  has been chosen as this year's Guest with a significant  participation of short films in an Arab festival. The details will be announced in forthcoming releases. why poverty films and films from Arte will be projected in a special program.

It has also been announced that a large number of films will premiere in the Arab world through this festival as a number of companies and directors from Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Italy and Greece have expressed their wish to take part in this round and in future ones as well.

The festival will hold three specialized seminars to be attended by a number of foreign and Arab filmmakers, and the details will be announced later. The festival will also hold parallel activities, such as the fifth Photography International Exhibition, which is being currently prepared for and is to host photos from all over the world.

On this occasion, the festival's administration has announced that it seeks to achieve a qualitative improvement in the festival's performance each year. It is worth mentioning that the festival is organized by NGO (No Borders Iraqi cinematographers), which is an independent, non-governmental cinema association. The festival is funded by a number of Iraqi and foreign institutions.