Dubai film fest will shell out

In an effort to promote homegrown talent in the Gulf Arab region, Dubai will offer prize money at its international film festival next month.

The weeklong festival, now in its third year, has fast become a venue for filmmakers to show uncut movies to ethnically diverse audiences in the cosmopolitan city where authorities usually censor cinema.

For the first time, the festival, which begins Dec. 10, will award $325,000 worth of prizes for feature films, documentaries and shorts made by Arabs about the Arab world.