By Noimot Olayiwola/Staff Reporter

Three novel short sport films were declared winners yesterday at the Qatar Sports Film Festival, a first in the Middle East. The event concludes today at the Alriwaq Doha exhibition space near the Museum of Islamic Art park.

The winners are Sport Dancer by Ibrahim Arar and Abdalla Nahia from Qatar (first prize QR10,000); Segunda Naturaleza - Alberto Gutierrez from Mexico (second place QR8,000); and Frisbee Trick shot by Dylan Finol & Colin  Herrington from Saudi Arabia (third prize QR6,000).

The contest aimed to create a platform for filmmakers and sports fanatics to share their passions and promote the art of screenwriting and film-making in the world of sports and the Olympics.

Speaking about their winning entry, Arar, who is the film director and the freestyle dancer Nahia said they were happy that their film was recognised as number one at the festival.

“It is an amazing feeling to get the first prize…it’s a first step for me in film-making and it is also an encouragement for me to go further in the field. This is not my first performance…I have been enrolled in festivals but this is the first time that I am getting involved in competition and ending up among the top three,” said Arar, a civil engineer.

Nahia, a two-time Qatar champion in 2009 and 2012, said he aspired to be the pioneer in freestyle sport dancing in Qatar and be among those recognised internationally.

Finol and Herrington, who were inspired by American Ultimate Frisbee player Brodie Smith, hoped to see their game included in the Olympics sometime in the future and to grow and become professionals together.

“I think that now that we are placed in a contest and got some recognition, we will like to get more videos on YouTube and get more and more subscribers to view and we will also like to keep playing the sports…it’s still the beginning and we also need to practice some more,” said Finol, who is from the US.

“We’ve made three videos so far, the first two were not that good as the third one as they took only one week and then it got a lot better and more difficult shots and it takes us up to one month to complete this last video,” explained Herrington, a Canadian.

Both are high-schoolers in grades eight and nine at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology school, Saudi Arabia, and said they spent after school and weekends training and mastering their tricks.

The festival, organised by The Youth Company and the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, under the patronage of Fédération Internationale Cinéma Télévision Sportifs,  includes public screenings of various sports documentaries, which continue today at 4pm. Entry is free.

The films being screened today are: I Want to Run – The Toughest Race in the World (Germany, 2011), One Revolution – The Story of Chris Waddell’s Journey to the Roof of Africa (USA, 2010), Ginger: More than a Game (Serbia, 2012), and Le Mans: Chasing the Dream (UK, 2007).

All the films feature individual stories of people, professional sportsmen or sport lovers in racing, mountaineering, surfing, basketball or running, all united by their passion for sports.