December 2, 2018 – The 12th NDU International Film Festival (NDUIFF) Co-founders Sam Lahoud and Dr. Nicolas Khabbaz took the stage to address the audience, celebrate cinematic achievement and distribute the awards. They thanked the festival’s partners, international guests, Jury members, organizing team and participants for their tremendous efforts and generous support.
Bank of Beirut (BoB) Jeita Branch Manager, Elie Saber, expressed his appreciation for NDUIFF’s mission praising its successful milestone and ensuring that Bank of Beirut will provide support for NDUIFF to continue and grow.
NDUIFF 12th edition culminated in the Golden Olive Awards Ceremony, which took place on Sunday, December 2, 2018 at 7:00 p.m., in Bechara el-Rai Theater-NDU main campus.
The Golden Olive Awards went to the following films in the categories listed below:
Golden Olive Award, Best Fiction
International Competition
All These Creatures
Charles Williams
Australia
Golden Olive Award, Best Documentary
International Competition
Prisoner of Society
Rati Tsiteladze
Georgia
Golden Olive Award, Best Animation
International Competition
Tweet-Tweet
Zhanna Bekmambetova
Russia
Golden Olive Award, Best Animation
Lebanese Students Competition
Undivided
Araz Kelian
Alba
Golden Olive Award, Best Fiction
Lebanese Students Competition
Un Temps De Chien
Anthony Yazbeck
IESAV
Second Prize Award, Best Fiction
Lebanese Students Competition
Athyo
Jean Pierre Abdayem
LU2
Third Prize Award, Best Fiction
Lebanese Students Competition
Pick Me Up
Layal Akiki
LU2
Golden Olive Award, Best Fiction
Lebanese Independent Competition
Sunday Market: Tripoli
Yahya Mourad
Lebanon
Ministry of Tourism Award of Land, People and Culture
Lebanese Students Competition
A Canvas of Life
Ahmad El Naboulsi
Lebanon
Emile Chahine Award for CInematic Excellence
lamia khonda
khaled al rayes
NDU
Special Jury Mentions Award
Lebanese Students Competition
All The World Is Green
Antony Maalouf
IESAV
Bank of Beirut Public Vote Award
Lebanese Students Competition
Foreboding
Lynn Tawile
Usek
The NDU administration allocated prize money to winners to encourage future film productions. Bank of Beirut allocated prize money to the publicly voted daily winners.
The ministry of tourism and Bank of Beirut Public Vote winners were awarded a fully-covered trip to Cannes Film Festival in May 2019.
Following the announcement of the final results, the winners unanimously expressed their honor to be part of the NDUIFF 12th edition thanking the organizers, cast, crew, and audience.
The NDUIFF founders announced that the festival will start accepting students film submissions directly to ensure equal opportunities for all of them.
In light of the lack of a winner for the “Student Documentary Film category” the jury urged participants to dig deeper into the cinematic realization of the Documentary as a film genre.
Mark your calendars for NDUIFF’s promising 13th edition, which is set to take place starting November 2019.