(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Joelyn Baluyut |
The Peninsula
Doha: Filmmakers participating in Qumra, the annual incubator event of Doha film Institute (DFI). said Qatar's film industry is entering a new wave.
In an online press briefing held on Tuesday between filmmakers under Feature Narratives in Post Production, Filmmaker Khalil Benkirane, who is also Head of Grants at DFI, said there is a huge change of Qatar filmmaking and it's just the beginning.
He said that the Institute has seen numerous Qatari talents approached them and have benefited from labs and workshops.“We are seeing now many short films [granted and funded by DFI] in various festivals throughout the world.” Benkirane said“there is a lot of eyes on Qatar and its filmmakers.”
His film together with Afef Ben Mahmoud, entitled“Backstage”, is a story about Aida, a member of a Tunisian contemporary dance troupe touring Morocco, provokes during a representation. Her life and stage partner Hedi, who injures her onstage, triggering a series of events through a long night across a forest, on the way to the next village's doctor.
Qumra Development Executive Antoine Waked agreed with Benkirane, saying:“I've been speaking a lot with filmmakers and seeing the different projects throughout the years, and I feel we are on a big change in the landscape of Arab cinema.
“And now I see a new generation and they (filmmakers) grew up in the 1980s and 1990s and they saw different movies, and I feel these movies are also contaminating the Arab content that they want to share with the world, and it's creating something quite unique in my opinion that really needs to attract funds and co-producers and I hope this is what's gonna happen, and Qumra is placed exactly for that.”
Hamida Issa, a Qatari filmmaker hopes her full-length film“Places of the Soul,” the first of its kind in the country, will be“the beginning of a new wave of feature films coming out in Qatar.”
“I've been a filmmaker since the birth of filmmaking industry here in Qatar. I feel like I've grown with the film industry here and it's been like a reflection of my personal journey as well. The fact that this is the first feature to come out from Qatar is a lot of pressure but also an honour and I hope I make everyone proud. It's been existential, it's been emotional but it's also been rewarding.”
“Places of the Soul” is a seven-year in the making film. It follows Issa on a journey to Antarctica with an environmental and leadership expedition. The beauty and heartbreaking realities of the world's most untouched nature was an immensely life changing experience. This leads her to exploring Qatar through a renewed lens, in search of sustainability in her cultural history and the roots of her identity.
Meanwhile, Indian filmmaker Vinay Shukla known for his film“An Insignificant Man” said filmmaking has been hard for the past two years as the world has been battling with COVID-19.
His film“While We Watched” has been in the making for three and a half years and has been selected under Qumra Feature Narratives Post Production.
His latest movie talks about journalism, offering an intimate portrait of the frontlines of truth in India.
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