DIFF and Samsung are joining forces with Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) on the second edition of the short film competition they inaugurated this year.

Under the new partnership, this year’s competition, dubbed The Reel Dubai, is calling for submissions focused on Dubai. The theme ties in with the DTCM’s social media #MyDubai campaign.

The initiative launched in January invited residents and visitors to post images and videos recording their experiences in Dubai on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #MyDubai. It has generated more than one million hashtag uses to date.

The competition is open to Dubai residents of any nationality.

Samsung will provide six short-listed nominees with a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with which to film their projects.

The nominees will also be mentored by Emirati directors Nayla Al Khaja, Ali Mostafa and animation expert Mohammad Saeed Harib, who recently contributed to the Salma Hayek-produced The Prophet.

“When I started out I didn’t know where to go. There weren’t many mentors, and DIFF didn’t even exist. Young, aspiring filmmakers are very lucky today. There’s DIFF and there’s education. Mentorship brings something else to the table. It brings that one-on-one approach which is intimate. They can come to me, Ali and Mohammed with their scripts and we can guide them from A to Z and that’s the kind of luxury we didn’t have,” said Nayla Al Khaja.

The winning short will be showcased in the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Film Festival.

The winners of the inaugural short film competition, which was also run in association with Samsung, were announced on Friday.

Philip Rashid won the top prize for his short Happy Birthday. Second prize went to Aamna Raffat Jahan’s The Delivery Boy.

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