Freedom theme dominates MEIFF film fest

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Russian director Valery Todorovsky's "Hipsters" won top honors at the 16 Black Pearl Awards for the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi.

Todorovsky's musical, known as "Stilyagi" in Russian, celebrates Soviet teenagers' underground embrace of American pop music culture during the culturally oppressive 50s.

Australian Glendyn Ivin, previous Cannes Palm d'Or short film winner, earned feature director kudos for "Last Ride," a tale of a criminal and his son on the run in South Australia.

Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi's look at Tehran's pop music scene, "No One Knows About Persian Cats" ("Kasi az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh"), won the audience choice prize and top actor honors for Hamed Behdad while Alicia Laguna and Sonia Couoh shared best actress honors for Mexico's "Northless" ("Norteado"). Canadian T.C. McLuhan's tale of Pahstun warrior Badshah Khan, "The Frontier Gandhi," took top documentary honors.

Actress/activist Vanessa Redgrave received a lifetime achievement award. American student Rob Connolly earned special mention.

The awards were presented during Saturday night's gala by Naomi Watts and Eva Mendes.

The 10-day film fest screened 128 films. Screened films not competing included the George Clooney co-produced starring vehicle "The Men Who Stare at Goats," and Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story."