Watch: Cate Blanchett, Jessica Kahawaty and more at the IWC Filmmaker Awards

The second night of the annual Dubai International Film Festival played host to the prestigious IWC Filmmaker awards, which saw A-list celebrities Catte Blanchett, Sir Patrick Stewart and plenty more in tow. We celebrated the rising stars, those making their directorial debuts and seasons moviemakers at the One&Only.

“It’s fantastic to see that more and more regional, especially female, film makers are coming through,” says Christoph Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen. “We’ve had a wide range of entries from UAE, Bahrain and Saudi – it’s the strongest year of content we’ve had yet for the awards”.

Cate Blanchett stopped to talk to us about female empowerment and gender quality in the industry: “Women in film get asked a lot about what they’re wearing and the fashion-side of things. I don’t think our male counterparts get challenged with those questions as often. They often get asked about their work, what inspires them, which film makers they’d like to work with, but I think that’s changing more and more.”

Congratulations to all the winners.