A still from Nora Al Subai’s Al-Johara which was one of the completed projects supported by Qatari Film Fund.
DOHA: The Doha Film Institute (DFI) has announced seven new projects by local filmmakers as the recipients of the Fall 2018 Qatari Film Fund (QFF), which aims to nurture Qatari filmmakers and support them in their script-to-screen journey.
Feature film recipients include Mahdi Ali Ali Al Sharshani (Lavandula), Jassim Al Rumaihi (Our Legend), and Noor Al Nasr (The Pearl). Short film recipients include animation projects by Amal Al Shamari (Freha) and Hassan Al Jahni (Ms7ar)and a short documentary by Sara Al Obaidly (Hitch 60). The final project to receive support is the first Qatari series to be awarded by the fund, Reem Al Maadeed and Sana Al Ansari’s Al Khataba.
Designed to foster home-grown talent, QFF offers two funding cycles per year to Qatari nationals and to date has supported 26 national projects including eight features and 18 shorts. Each selected short project will receive up to QR182,500 in production funding, in addition to in-kind support in the development, mentorship and the use of DFI’s equipment and production facilities. Selected feature projects will receive the same contribution in development support to reach a final draft of their script. The Fund is committed to the development of up to four feature films, in addition to up to eight short films annually.
Some of the completed projects from the fund include festival favourites A J Al Thani’s Kashta, Nora Al Subai’s Al-Johara and 1001 Days by Aisha Al-Jaidah, among others.
Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of DFI, said: “The Qatari Film Fund celebrates the skills and accomplishments of Qatari filmmakers, and highlights the importance of providing multi-faceted support to develop a home-grown culture of filmmaking. Our goal is to inspire, nurture and empower the next generation of storytellers, who present our stories to global audiences, and serve as a window into our world and the creative aspirations of Qatar’s emerging filmmaking talents.”
Al Remaihi said the selected projects for this cycle stand out for their originality, creativity and narrative power, and are diverse in their genre and approach.
“At DFI, we believe in the power of compelling filmmaking that questions perceptions and presents new perspectives. We are proud of our filmmakers for their innovative approach to cinema and for tackling challenging subjects with confidence,” she added.
Al Sharshani’s feature film Lavandula follows an orphan, Sultan, through his strange and mysterious dreams as he discovers the reason behind a breakdown in his family.
Al Rumaihi’s feature film Our Legend is about a scorned young jockey and his older Arabian horse who overcome mockery, jealousy, and bad luck as they strive for success.
Al Nasr’s feature film The Pearl imagines the life of a tech-obsessed Qatari teenager who travels back in time to when Qatar was dependent on pearl diving as its main source of income.
Al Maadeed and Al Ansari’s Al Khataba is the first series recipient of the QFF and follows a determined, well-known matchmaker through a Qatari wedding season.
Al Obaidly’s short documentary Hitch 60 is set in 1960s London and tells the true story of 16-year-old Maureen who flees London for the Middle East when her hopes for higher education are dashed by her working-class father.
This cycle of QFF will support two short animations, Freha and Ms7ar, by Al Shamari and Al-Jahni respectively. Freha is about a successful businesswoman and her relationship with her inspirational mother. Ms7ar is about a young girl who battles through her fear of the dark to enlist the help of a local mystic to wake up her dying grandmother.
