Image Nation Abu Dhabi, a leading media and entertainment company, has announced the return of its Arab Film Studio Documentary program for a third year. Submissions for the multi-disciplinary course involving workshops, mentoring and assignments will open on March 1.

"The fact that AFS Docs is returning for its third consecutive year is testament to the success of the program and the abundance of talented filmmakers here in the UAE We are so proud that our alumni are representing AFS and the region around the world", comments Alicia Gonzalez, Head of Training and Development at Image Nation.

The course open to Emiratis and UAE residents is the only dedicated training program in the region to offer invaluable coaching in documentary-filmmaking. Winners receive an internship with Image Nation's documentary department and the participants' final short films are judged by a panel of internationally acclaimed industry experts. In past years this has included Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim.

Previous winners of the initiative have gone on to have great success worldwide. Amna Al Nowais, director of Omnia, won the Muhr Emirati Award for Best Short film at the Dubai International Film Festival 2015 and a Jury Prize at the SF Shorts Festival in San Francisco. Fellow AFS Docs participant Tanya Daud has also gone on to work full time at Image Nation collaborating on some of their biggest productions including He Named Me Malala.

"Having the training and support from Image Nation has been an incredible experience. The knowledge, dedication and encouragement of the faculty has been second-to-none and is really what makes it stand out from other courses. I now feel confident as a filmmaker and can use the skills I've learnt for my own projects", explains Tanya.

The AFS Docs announcement follows the opening of AFS Scriptwriting in partnership with Dubai Film Market earlier this year. Along with AFS Narrative and the introduction to filmmaking course for high school students, this is the third program to be offered by AFS this year, alongside narrative, currently in its writing phase.

Also new this year is an AFS outreach Roadshow which will commence March 13. The roadshow will visit various locations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, helping to spread the word of the opportunity and all of AFS current programs to young people.

"One of our main objectives is to build an Arab film industry with longevity so investing in future generations is critical to this. Our AFS programs offer some of the best training in the region and it is something we are very proud of. We hope the roadshow will help us to uncover even more talented filmmakers from the region", comments Michael Garin, CEO of Image Nation.

Details of all Arab Film Studio programs can be found on: arabfilmstudio.ae