The Kuwait Film Festival announced the winners of its 1st edition on Tuesday. 

Ahmad Al Tarkit's film Aritaj took the first spot in the Kuwaiti Short Film category, followed by Khaled Al Rayes' Lamya Khonda in second place and Micha'al Al Hleil's Chai Haleeb in third. 

In the International Short Film category, Jenny Dez's Jihad in Hollywood, won first place, followed by Eden Brock's From Kuwait, which came in second, while Haya Al Ghanem's From City to City came in third. 

As for the Feature Length Documentary category, the winners were Habib Hussein's Art Behind Doors, which  took the first place, Abdel Aziz Al Mershed's Generation's Symphony that came in second, followed by Ali Hasan's Long Live Kuwait in the third position.  

The festival also handed out the Khaled Al Sedeeq honorary award to both Abdel Aziz Al Balam's Inside of Me and Ahmad Al Khadari's The Part that isn't Lost.

Al Sedeeq is one of the most highly regarded Kuwaiti filmmakers. His critically acclaimed films include the 1972 feature film Bas ya Baher.

The film revolves around the lives of pearl fishers in Kuwait and was the country's official entry to the forty fifth Academy awards. It was not selected as one of the five Best Foreign Picture nominees but went on to receive numerous international awards, including the Critics Choice Award at the 1972 Venice Film Festival. 

Kuwait's first film festival was launched last week in a ceremony where filmmakers, artists and cinephiles celebrated the 7th art in the country. 

Twenty three films were screened at the festival and competed in three different categories. 

At the festival's opening ceremony on Friday, its director Shaker Abel said, “the festival will not be limited to screening films, but will also be an ever expanding learning platform that enables film enthusiasts from around the world to meet, collaborate and exchange experiences and ideas,” according to Al Khaleej. 

The first edition of KFF also featured a series of lectures, presentations, discussion panels and workshops with leading industry figures from across the Arab world. 

The festival's jury included actor Mohammad Mansour, filmmakers Khaled Al Nasrallah and Naser Karmani, in addition to film critic Farouq Abdel Aziz and writer May Al Naqeeb, Al Khaleej reported.