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The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra workshop wrapped on Wednesday after six days of masterclasses, labs and mentoring sessions held in the Qatari capital aiming to connect the Arab filmmaking community with the rest of the world. The event’s 11th edition unfolded against the backdrop of a broken Middle East ceasefire and U.S. President Donald Trump’s trumpeted tariffs, but these happenings did not disrupt the event’s positive tone.
Qumra, named after the Arab word believed to be the origin of “camera,” saw some 300 top industry reps — including sales agents, producers and top festival programmers — congregate in Doha, which played a key role in mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel. The event unveiled a new crop of first and second works mostly by Arab directors comprising 49 projects, 27 of which are feature films, either in development or post-production.
Many projects are supported by the Doha Film Institute, which runs a film grant and workshop program that regularly spawns films selected by major festivals. The most recent case-in-point is Egyptian first-time director Morad Mostafa’s “Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” which will launch from Un Certain Regard in Cannes. The DFI is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.
“Today, as we celebrate this milestone, we find ourselves at a complex crossroads where the world is witnessing continuing genocides,” DFI CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said in her opening-day speech. “The promise of peace and ceasefire are merely cover stories for the continued dehumanization and attempts to erase voices in the region.”
The event’s artistic advisor is Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, know for movies addressing the long-running Arab-Israeli conflicts and their impact such as “Divine Intervention,” “The Time That Remains” and most recently “It Must Be Heaven,” which premiered at Cannes in 2019.
Standout Palestinian projects unveiled at Qumra include sci-fi drama “In Memory of Things to Come,” a first feature by Danish-Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour being produced by Anna Köhncke (“The Act of Killing”) and the multiple Oscar-nominated Monica Hellström (“Flee,” “A House Made of Splinters”).
Arabic features on display in picture-lock phase that are likely to soon surface on the festival circuit comprise Erige Sehiri’s “Marie & Jolie,” which highlights the lives of three Ivorian women in Tunisia from different generations who live together in a house that doubles as an evangelical church; and Iraqi first-time director Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake,” about a 9-year-old girl who is forced to bake a cake for Saddam Hussein’s birthday.
Overall, DFI Director of Film Funding Hanaa Issa noted that these days “there is a greater sense of independence” within the Arab film industry that is less beholden to European sales agents and production companies. Arab directors and producers are now increasingly able to finance their films on their own “thanks to private money that’s coming from the region and more funding from platforms and broadcasters” which, in turn, “gives them freedom to tell the stories that they want to tell.”
Qumra mentors included iconic Hong Kong director Johnnie To; master Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas; ace cinematographer Darius Khondji; and Walter Salles, fresh off his best international feature Oscar win for “I’m Still Here.”
Salles compared Qumra to the Sundance Institute and urged young Arab directors to follow his footsteps and make movies amid injustices. “Cinema is a way to construct memory and fight against erasing it,” he said. “Whether you shoot it with an iPhone or make a feature film, it’s an extraordinary tool of resistance.”
