Seven world premieres are included among the 15 films competing in the $200,000 narrative competition Abu Dhabi's Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) (October 10-19).

The world premieresare mostlyfrom film-makers fromthe region, stretching from Lebanon to Morocco, highlighting the festival's aim to be a beacon for Arab and Middle East talent.

The MEIFF has four competitions with total prize money of more than $1m.

Narrative competition. World premieres are in bold:

Beirut Open City (Samir Habachi, Lebanon)

Fawzia: A Special Blend (Magdi Ahmed Ali, Egypt)

Gulabi Talkies (Girish Kasaravalli, India)

Hasiba (Remon Butros, Syria)

Henna (Saleh Karama's UAE)

Laila's Birthday (Rashid Masharawi, Palestine, Tunisia, Netherlands)

Mermaid (Rusalka) (Anna Melikyan, Russia)

O' Horten (Bent Hamer, Norway)

On A Day Like Today (Amr Salama, Egypt)

Terra Nova (Alexander Melnik, Russia)

Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz, Denmark)

Time Of Comrades (Mohamed Chrif Tribak, Morocco)

Wild Blood (Sanguepazzo) (Marco Tullio Giordana, Italy)

Yellow Handkerchief (Udayan Prasad, USA)

Zara (Ayten Mutlu Saray, Switzerland/Austria/Netherlands/Kurdistan)

The $150,000eight-film documentary competition includes Seven Blind Film-makers (Mohammed Shirvani, Iran); Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love(Elisabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Senegal/ Egypt/France); and Man On Wire(James Marsh, UK/USA).

In the category of Short Films, 30 films from 21 different countries will compete. The Student Film Competition has 17 entrants.