In short: Stories of Our Determination is a national short film competition run by the Dubai Films and Games Commission for Eid Al Etihad 2026. It is open to UAE citizens and residents, entry is free, and films must run no longer than five minutes including titles and credits. Press reports give 25 October as the deadline and prizes of AED 50,000 for professional winners and AED 10,000 for students; the commission's own page still says submissions open soon.
Last checked against the sources below: 27 September 2026.
The UAE turns 55 this December, and the Dubai Films and Games Commission (DFGC) has decided to mark it with fifty-five short films made by the people who live here. The call is deliberately wide: phone or cinema camera, documentary or animation, a first film or a fiftieth.
A wide call and a short deadline tend to produce the same problems. People shoot first and ask about the street, the drone or the stranger in the background afterwards. This note sets out what the commission has published, what the press has added, and the production questions worth settling before anyone picks up a camera. It is general information, not legal advice.
What is Stories of Our Determination?
The DFGC event page describes it as a first-of-its-kind national short film competition made for Eid Al Etihad 2026: fifty-five years of union, and fifty-five films on the nation's resilience, strength, unity, tolerance and development. The commission sits under the Dubai Media Council, and it is the same body that will run the returning Dubai International Film Festival in December 2027.
The page is explicit that you do not need a production company, a film degree or a track record. It lists who it has in mind, from documentary makers, animators and AI creators to journalists, photographers moving into motion, actors stepping behind the camera, and people who have never made a film. It also says age is not a barrier.
Selected films will be screened publicly and join a permanent national archive. An independent jury chooses the winners, and one award is decided by public vote.
The rules, as the commission publishes them
The commission's page sets out five rules. They are short, and every one of them affects how you plan the shoot:
- Five minutes, all in. The film runs no longer than five minutes, including titles and credits. Opening titles and a long credit roll come out of your story time.
- Original and unreleased. It must be your original work, made for this competition, and not previously released. Something already posted online does not qualify.
- Any language. Films not in Arabic or English need subtitles in one of them.
- Any technique. Live action, documentary, animation or AI are all accepted.
- One theme per film, free entry. You choose a single theme, and there is no entry fee.
On 27 September 2026 the page still said "Submissions open soon", with a link to register interest. The submission form, technical specifications (file format, resolution, aspect ratio) and full terms and conditions were not yet published. Read them the day they appear, because they may add rules on music, releases or rights that the summary page does not mention.
The four themes
Entrants pick one of four themes. In the commission's own framing:
| Theme | What the commission describes |
|---|---|
| Those Who Protected Us | People who stood between the community and harm, in uniform and out of it: courage, sacrifice, duty or quiet service, and the families who carried its weight. |
| One Nation, Many Communities | People of many backgrounds and languages standing together as one community: solidarity, shared fear overcome, belonging. |
| Life Continued | Everyday life that carried on through uncertainty: a family at home, a classroom, a hospital shift, a business opening its doors. |
| Stronger Toward the Future | What comes after resilience: a young person, a family, an innovator or a community turning experience into purpose. |
Each theme points to real people and real places, which is where the production questions start. A classroom, a hospital ward, a shop floor or a uniformed service is not a location you simply walk into with a camera.
Deadline, prizes and how films are judged
These details come from press coverage of the launch on 12 and 13 September rather than from the commission's page, which has not yet listed them. Khaleej Times and Emirates 24|7 both report:
- Deadline: 25 October 2026.
- Prizes: AED 50,000 for professional winners and AED 10,000 for student winners, with 10 awards in total.
- Award categories: Grand Jury Prize, Best Fiction Film, Best Documentary Film, Best Animated Film and Best AI Film.
- Judging: an eligibility and technical check, a preliminary online selection, then an independent jury, plus one award by public vote.
Khaleej Times adds that the official selection will be 55 films, matching the 55th Eid Al Etihad. If the commission's terms, once published, give a different date or amount, the commission's version wins.
Counting from today, 25 October leaves four weeks. For a five-minute film that is enough, but only if the permissions are settled in the first week rather than the last.
Do you need a filming permit for a competition entry?
This is the question the competition page does not answer, and it is the one that matters most for anyone filming in public in Dubai.
The Dubai Film and TV Commission, whose permit portal is still where Dubai filming permits are issued, requires a permit for professional audio and visual productions on all platforms. Its FAQ lists the cases that do not need one: weddings, events, educational filming by colleges and schools, press conferences, and filming for personal use. Our filming permit guide sets out the fees and documents, and how to film in Dubai puts the steps in order.
A competition entry does not sit neatly in any of those boxes. A student film made through a school or college may fall under the educational exemption. A film shot entirely at home, in your own space, with your own family, looks much more like personal use than a production. But a crewed shoot with lights and a boom on a public street, at a mall or on a beach, made for public screening and a cash prize, is the kind of filming the permit regime exists for, and neither the DFGC page nor the press coverage says entries are exempt.
Our advice is simple: if the film involves a crew or equipment in a public or commercial place, ask before you shoot. Put the question to the organisers once the submission terms are out, and if the answer is that a permit is needed, remember that the Dubai Film and TV Commission issues permits only through a UAE-licensed production company, and that the permit itself takes one working day once location owners approve. Scripted film and TV projects also go through script approval, which can take up to 25 business days, so check early whether that applies to your entry.
The fines listed by the commission are not small: AED 25,000 for filming without permission and AED 15,000 for filming without location permission. That is a poor trade for a five-minute film.
Locations: private, public and restricted
Whatever the permit position, a location needs its owner's agreement. A café, a school, a clinic, an office or a shop can say yes or no, and most will want to know what you are filming, when and with how many people. Ask in writing and keep the reply.
The themes make some locations more tempting than others. "Those Who Protected Us" invites films about police, civil defence, ambulance crews, health workers and the armed forces. Do not film at police stations, military or security sites, airports or hospitals without the permission of the body that runs them. Where a service agrees to take part, it will usually have its own media or communications team who decide what can be shown. Airports alone, for example, ask for notice periods measured in working days, as the filming guide notes for Dubai Airports.
If you need somewhere specific and do not know who controls it, that is a location scouting question: find the owner first, then write the scene around what they will allow.
Filming people: consent comes first
A film about communities is a film about people, and UAE law takes images of people seriously. Under Article 44 of Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on combating rumours and cybercrimes, taking photographs of others in a public or private place without their consent, and publishing them, is an offence when done through information technology. Khaleej Times and Gulf News both report the penalty as detention of at least six months, a fine of AED 150,000 to AED 500,000, or both. Photographing the injured or the dead after an accident is specifically covered.
For a short film that means a few habits:
- Get written consent from everyone who is recognisable on screen, and from a parent or guardian for children.
- Frame out passers-by or shoot where there are none, rather than hoping nobody minds.
- Do not film emergencies or accident scenes for "Those Who Protected Us". Reconstruct them with consenting people, or tell the story through interviews after the fact.
- Ask again before publishing. Consent to be filmed and consent to be shown in a public screening and a national archive are worth confirming together.
The same care applies to AI entries. A film that generates or alters the likeness of a real, identifiable person raises the same questions of consent, and the competition page does not say how it treats them. Wait for the terms, and if in doubt, do not use a real person's face or voice.
If your film needs actors rather than real subjects, our models and talent page explains how talent is booked and why usage should be agreed in writing before the shoot.
Drones are the shot to plan without
Aerial shots of the skyline are the obvious way to say "the nation" in five seconds, and they are the one thing you should not count on. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority's Safety Decision 2026-03, Issue 02 of 27 March 2026, suspended drone authorisations and new approvals in UAE airspace except by a specific written GCAA exemption. As of 27 September 2026 we had not found an official GCAA or Dubai Civil Aviation Authority notice lifting it. Our note on bringing camera equipment into the UAE has the detail and the link to the decision, and the drone filming guide covers the approvals that normally apply.
Plan the film without aerials. A rooftop you have permission to use, a long lens from a balcony, or licensed archive footage can do the same job.
A four-week plan for a five-minute film
With the deadline reported as 25 October, a realistic schedule for a small live-action or documentary entry looks like this:
- Week one: story and permissions. Choose one theme, write a one-page treatment, list every location and every person on screen, and send the location and consent requests. Ask the organisers, once terms are live, whether your kind of shoot needs a permit.
- Week two: prepare. Lock locations in writing, collect signed consent, plan the shots, and test sound. Five minutes of clear sound beats five minutes of beautiful pictures with a noisy air-conditioning unit behind every line.
- Week three: shoot. Keep the days short and early. Outdoor heat is still high in late September and October, as our note on the 2026 to 2027 shooting season explains, and mornings are easier on people and batteries.
- Week four: edit and deliver. Cut to under five minutes including titles and credits, add Arabic or English subtitles if needed, and check the delivery specifications in the published terms. Submit a few days early rather than on the final evening.
Animation and AI entries skip most location questions, but not the consent ones, and not the rule that the film must be original work made for this competition.
What we are watching for
The commission's page will change when submissions open. The points still to be published are:
- the submission form and technical specifications;
- the full terms and conditions, including rights granted to the organisers for screening and archiving;
- any rules on music, stock footage and AI tools;
- the official deadline and prize amounts on the commission's own page;
- the date and venue of the public screening.
We will update this note when they appear. If you are making an entry and want to talk through locations, permits or the order of approvals for a small shoot, write to lata@carvingdreamsevent.com.
Questions
- Who can enter Stories of Our Determination?
- UAE citizens and residents. The Dubai Films and Games Commission says you do not need a production company, a film degree or a track record, and that age is not a barrier. Students and professionals compete for separate prize amounts, according to press reports.
- How long can a Stories of Our Determination film be?
- No longer than five minutes, including titles and credits. It must be original work made for the competition and not previously released, with Arabic or English subtitles if it is in another language.
- What is the deadline and the prize money?
- Khaleej Times and Emirates 24|7 report a 25 October 2026 deadline, AED 50,000 for professional winners and AED 10,000 for student winners, across 10 awards. On 27 September the commission's own page said submissions would open soon and had not yet listed them.
- Do I need a Dubai filming permit to shoot my entry?
- The competition has not said. The Dubai Film and TV Commission exempts personal use and educational filming by schools and colleges, but a crewed shoot in a public or commercial place is normally professional filming. Ask the organisers before you shoot, and get the location owner's agreement either way.
- Can I use a drone in my competition film?
- Plan without one. The GCAA suspended drone authorisations in UAE airspace in March 2026 except by specific written exemption, and we had not found an official notice lifting it as of 27 September 2026.
Sources
Planning something in the UAE?