Ali bin Khalfan al Jabri, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Information, opened the first short film festival organised by the Oman Society for Films and Theatre (OSFT) at the society on Saturday.
The one-week-long festival from December 18 to 23 will screen 27 locally made films from 7pm to 9pm everyday.
Speaking to the Observer, Dr Saif Nasser al Maawali, Director, Omani Short Film Festival, said that the response from the local artistes was overwhelming.
“We received hundreds of entries and 27 films were shortlisted to take part in the festival. The response from the directors, astistes and technicians is a clear indication that cinema in the Sultanate of Oman is growing in leaps and bounds,” Dr Saif said.
As many as 27 films comprising 11 feature films, 10 documentaries, and 6 animation films with the duration ranging from 3 minutes to 50 minutes will be screened during the festival.
The biennial Muscat International Film Festival (MIFF), which was supposed to be held in early 2020, was called off due to the Covid pandemic and plans are afoot to hold the same in a bigger manner from next year, according to the organisers.
Dr Humaid al Amri, Chairman of OSFT, Dr Mohammed al Kindi, Omani film director, Khalil al Sinani and other local and expatriate film personalities were present at the opening ceremony.
