Doha Film Institute has now supported more than 750 films from 75 countries, with grants cycles in autumn and spring.
Doha Film Institute has announced the recipients of its 2023 Spring Grants cycle at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. A total of 29 films from 18 countries have been selected for the current cycle of the DFI’s film development initiative which has supported over 750 diverse projects from 75 countries to date.
Awarded in two cycles – Spring and Fall, the Institute Grants programme has evolved as one of the flagship film funding initiatives focused on strengthening a vibrant creative ecosystem and supporting emerging voices from all over the world to help them realise their cinematic aspirations. The Grants support projects including feature and short narratives, documentaries and experimental as well as TV series.
In addition to Qatar, recipients of the 2023 Spring Grants include film projects from Algeria, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Lebanon, Mongolia, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sudan and Tunisia.
Recipients include 12 women filmmakers and 10 returning grantees along with four projects from Qatar-based talent, underlining the institute’s commitment to supporting important voices and the continued evolution of independent cinema from the region and beyond.
Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute, said: “We are on a mission to discover and promote original and independent voices in cinema, and have had the great privilege of supporting the most powerful and important voices from the region and beyond through our Grants programme. Our Spring Grants 2023 reinforces our continued commitment to filmmakers globally who have once again impressed us with the diversity and depth of the original themes they are exploring in their stories. This current cycle of projects was chosen from hundreds of compelling submissions, and we are proud to bring these soulful stories to global audiences.”
Kohl & Cardamom (Egypt, Sweden, Qatar) by Fady Atallah, Rabies (Lebanon, Qatar) by Sandra Tabet, and To Bled or Not to Bled (France, Algeria, Qatar) by Azedine Kasri have been selected in Feature Narrative – Development category.
In the Feature Narrative – Production category the films selected are A Quarter to Thursday in Algiers (Algeria, France, Belgium, Qatar) by Sofia Djama, Aïcha (Tunisia, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar) by Mehdi M. Barsaoui, Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore (Egypt, Tunisia, Qatar) by Morad Mostafa, and La mer au loin (France, Qatar) by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi.
Back to Alexandria (Switzerland, France, Qatar) by Tamer Ruggli and East of Noon (Egypt, Netherlands, Qatar) by Hala Elkoussy are selected in the Feature Narrative – Post-Production.
Other films selected in different categories are Banel & Adama (France, Senegal, Mali, Qatar) by Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Excursion (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Norway, France, Qatar) by Una Gunjak, Ze (France, Mongolia, Netherlands, Germany, Qatar) by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, I Am One of Them (Poland, Qatar) by Nadim Suleiman, Ozogoche (Ecuador, Qatar) by Joe Houlberg, Halaa’ (Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar) by Amal Al Muftah, Autumn (Qatar) by Aisha Al-Jaidah, The Experiment (Qatar) by Abdulla Alhor, and No Reaching Hand (Qatar) by Batla Aldosari, among others.
