The Middle East International Film Festival – Abu Dhabi announces the Official Competition slate, with filmmakers competing for the coveted Black Pearl awards. “The production support awarded with the Black Pearl is truly one-of-a-kind,” said Nashwa Al-Ruwaini. “We are confident that it will help propel its recipient into the next level of filmmaking.”“We are thrilled with the line-up of films we have in Competition,” said Festival Director Jon Fitzgerald. “They represent world-...

 Tuesday, August 28--------Montreal has the distinction of being the only major film festival of the Fall season to have an awards competition. The Prix des Ameriques (Americas Prize) is quite the prestigious award and this year's World Competition Section lineup is the strongest in years. In the high stakes game of festival stragegy, itt is a given that if one premieres in Montreal, that Toronto (which begins a week from Thursday) is out. And while Toronto certainly commands a bigger profile, ...