DFI to fund 12 MENA films

Doha Film Institute (DFI) has announced the recipients of its Spring 2014 grants that include 12 projects from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region out of a total of 21 projects from 14 countries.

Highlighting the steady strides made by the Qatari film industry, four projects by filmmakers in Qatar have been selected to receive grants. These include Parijat (Night-flowering Jasmine), a feature-length narrative by Qatari director Hend Fakhroo; the first-of-its-kind reality web series Dr. Hamood Show by Qatari production company, Innovation Films; Remembering Ada, another feature film by Qatar-based Jan Xavier Pacle; and the short documentary Concrete Dreams: Some Roads Lead Home by Saba Karim Khan.

The other projects from the MENA region come from Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. Of the total, seven projects are from OECD’s Development Assistance Committee list of countries (DAC) and two are from the rest of the world.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Acting CEO of the Doha Film Institute said: “After the success our grant recipients Theeb and Sivas met in Venice, we are really excited about this next round of projects, which reflect some compelling new voices in cinema. Our jurors were impressed by the range of stories and the diversity of the backgrounds of the filmmakers who submitted work.”

“We are also pleased to see so many strong narrative and documentary projects being submitted by women, whose projects really stood out in this round. A selection of 12 films from the region, including four from Qatar, further indicates the strong talent pool of filmmakers we have in the Arab world. We are committed to supporting them and taking their projects to the next level. These powerful projects are examples of the type of cinema our grants programme was set up to champion. We look forward to working with these filmmakers throughout the life cycle of these projects and beyond.”

The Doha Film Institute’s Spring 2014 Grants Programme focused on identifying new cinematic talent, particularly first- and second-time filmmakers. Now in its eighth session, the fund received 360 applications. The MENA region accounted for 160 of these; 108 came from DAC countries and 92 were from the rest of the world.

At 158 submissions, the number of feature narrative films in production seeking funding was higher than ever before, resulting in a large number of the selected projects – 10 in total – being narrative features in production, a notable increase over past grant sessions. Six feature documentaries and two short films (one narrative and one documentary) are also recipients of the grant. All chosen projects will receive funding for development, production or post-production.

The feature narrative projects from the MENA region that will be supported by this round of funding include: Days of Tyranny by Katia Jarjoura (Lebanon), about the life of a poet in hiding who is hunted down by security agents in war-torn Iraq; and Madmen’s Fort by Narimane Mari (Algeria), about colonialist ambitions in the Algerian Sahara in 1860.

The short narrative grantees include Waves ‘98 by Elie Dagher (Lebanon), about a boy whose mind opens to a whole new world as a result of a chance encounter. The feature documentary selections from MENA include Dream Away by Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke (Egypt), which takes viewers through different sites in Sharm El-Sheikh in an examination of the tourist trade there. Also from Egypt is We Have Never Been Kids by Mahmood Soliman, about a woman who tries to look after her four children before and after her divorce.

From My Syrian Room, by Hazem Alhamwi (Syria), is the director’s examination of the Syrian people’s destiny through personal memories and conversations with his compatriots. From Palestine are Roshmia by Salim Abu Jabal on the lives of a couple living as refugees in Roshmia Valley; and Speed Sisters by Amber Fares, which documents the adventures of the first all-woman race-car driving team in the Middle East.

Female filmmakers are strongly represented in this funding round with ten women selected to receive funding including: Hend Fakhroo, Amber Fares, Johanna Domke, Natalia Garagiola, Katia Jarjoura, Saba Karim Khan Mariam Khatchvani, Narimane Mari, Gitanjali Rao and Mila Turajlic.

Hend Fakhroo said: “I am honoured to receive this development grant from the Doha Film Institute in support of my first feature-length narrative film. The support extended by the Institute to local talent is a driving force for us. It enables us to work on future projects with the confidence that we have the local support and platform that will allow us to nurture our projects.”

Mohammed Alhamadi, Innovation Films Board member and Executive Producer said: “We at Innovation Films are happy to have Doha Film Institute support our project Dr. Hamood Show and to see the Institute’s recognition of the growing culture and influence of New Media. Such support helped us in reaching the success we had after releasing the show online”

Both Fakhroo and Alhamadi have received professional development support from the Institute in the past to facilitate their participation in the Cannes Producers Workshop, a targeted programme for emerging filmmakers which takes place as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s industry platform, the Marché du Film.

Submissions for the current grants session opened September 25 and close October 15. While the fund is available to work by filmmakers from around the world, the Institute emphasises support for filmmakers from the MENA region, and certain categories of funding are reserved for MENA and Qatari filmmakers.

Filmmakers from the MENA region may apply for development, production or post-production funding for feature documentary, experimental and essay and narrative films. Short films will be considered for production and post-production funding only, with the exception of short films by Qatar-based filmmakers which are also eligible for development funding.

Applicants from the DAC countries may apply for narrative and documentary funding for production or post-production for feature-length projects. Rest of the world applicants are eligible for narrative and documentary funding for post-production only. Short films from outside the MENA region are not eligible.