RIYADH: A female Saudi film-maker won an award for best drama at the Saudi Film Festival, the chief juror said on Wednesday, hailing a higher quality of entries despite the kingdom’s cinema ban.

The five-day festival was only the second in seven years, and aired films at an arts and cultural centre in the Gulf coast city of Dammam.

At the awards ceremony on Tuesday night, Hana al-Omair took the Golden Palm Tree prize for her drama “Complain”, said Abdullah al-Eyaf, the head of the festival jury. It tells the story of a hospital worker who lodges a complaint against a colleague, an act symbolising everything wrong in her life.

Another woman, Shahad Ameen, won second prize in the drama category for “Eye & Mermaid”, a fantasy about a girl who discovers her father has tortured a mermaid to extract beautiful black pearls.

Mohanna Abdullah took third place for his film “Adam’s Ant”, the story of a prisoner who tries to befriend an ant in his cell.

The kingdom practises an austere version of Islam that does not permit conventional entertainment venues such as film theatres. It is the only country where women are not allowed to drive.

The sexes are strictly segregated, prompting critics on Twitter to complain after photographs showed men and women freely mixing at the film festival.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2015

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