AUS professor wins best film award at Italian media festival

A professor from the College of Architecture Art and Design (CAAD) at American University of Sharjah (AUS), won top honors at a European media festival for his film on Dubai Creek. The Floating Life of Dubai Creek, made by Thomas Kennedy, Assistant Professor of Architecture at AUS, won the award for Best Film at the third Ares Film and Media Festival, held in Siracusa, Italy.

Kennedy received a unanimous decision by an eminent jury, which comprised of Pasquale Scimeca, Italian director; Professor Carlo Truppi, Academic Dean of the School of Architecture at Syracuse University; and Sebastiano Grasso, art critic at the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. According to the jury the film tells the reality of Dubai creek, through its inhabitants, its architecture and the splendid nature of the sea. The film renders through montage an experience of a place and its people that many inhabitants of Dubai have not encountered.

"I felt honored by the jury's unanimous selection of my work," said Kennedy. "Over the past several months, the film has been shown in various venues in the US and Europe. Presently, I am looking for different screening opportunities to show the film in the UAE and look forward to receiving feedback from local citizenry. My hope is that this process will inform the next place-based film that I intend to make in the region," he added.

The 22-minute film, funded by an AUS Faculty Research Grant, was also shown at the New York City International Film Festival in July. The film is available for public screenings. For information, contact tkennedy@aus.edu.