Cairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit Mad Solutions has acquired rights for Arab territories to three films that celebrated their premieres this year at the Cannes and Venice film festivals.
The deals include Fyzal Boulifa’s “The Damned Don’t Cry,” which bowed in the Venice Days sidebar at the Italian fest and will have its Middle East and North Africa premiere at Marrakech before traveling to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Also acquired was Rachid Hami’s “For My Country,” a Venice Horizons selection that will have its regional premiere at the Cairo Film Festival.
The company also picked up the rights to Clément Cogitore’s “Sons of Ramses,” which had its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week strand.
“We are delighted to have acquired the distribution rights to three artistically distinguished films in 2022, which is considered the climax of our efforts in...
The deals include Fyzal Boulifa’s “The Damned Don’t Cry,” which bowed in the Venice Days sidebar at the Italian fest and will have its Middle East and North Africa premiere at Marrakech before traveling to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Also acquired was Rachid Hami’s “For My Country,” a Venice Horizons selection that will have its regional premiere at the Cairo Film Festival.
The company also picked up the rights to Clément Cogitore’s “Sons of Ramses,” which had its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week strand.
“We are delighted to have acquired the distribution rights to three artistically distinguished films in 2022, which is considered the climax of our efforts in...
- 11/16/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Princess of Tides: Dagher Can’t Go Home Again in Broody Beirut
For his directorial debut, The Sea Ahead, Ely Dagher expands on the themes evident in his earlier short films, including the 2015 Palme d’Or winning short Waves ’98, where a sense of isolation and alienation are the pervasive sentiments dictating his characters’ experiences in Beirut. Headlined by a stand-out Manal Issa, the narrative plays out in what could potentially be assumed semi-autobiographical flourishes as it concerns a prodigal daughter who unexpectedly returns to her parents’ home after a stint abroad without any explanation, only to be greeted by ghostly feelings she never laid to rest.…...
For his directorial debut, The Sea Ahead, Ely Dagher expands on the themes evident in his earlier short films, including the 2015 Palme d’Or winning short Waves ’98, where a sense of isolation and alienation are the pervasive sentiments dictating his characters’ experiences in Beirut. Headlined by a stand-out Manal Issa, the narrative plays out in what could potentially be assumed semi-autobiographical flourishes as it concerns a prodigal daughter who unexpectedly returns to her parents’ home after a stint abroad without any explanation, only to be greeted by ghostly feelings she never laid to rest.…...
- 7/29/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
167 film critics from 68 countries voted on the awards organised by the Arab Cinema Centre.
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s social satire Feathers, which won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last year, has swept the board at the sixth edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films.
The film, which was nominated in four categories, won best film, director and screenplay.
This year’s edition of the awards, spearheaded by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), focuses on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries,...
Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s social satire Feathers, which won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week last year, has swept the board at the sixth edition of the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films.
The film, which was nominated in four categories, won best film, director and screenplay.
This year’s edition of the awards, spearheaded by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), focuses on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries,...
- 5/22/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Past best film awards from the previous five editions include Wajib, Yomeddine and Gaza Mon Amour.
Jordanian director Bassel Ghandour’s The Alleys and Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers lead the nominations in the sixth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The films each garnered nominations in four categories, including best film, director and screenplay.
Spearheaded and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), this edition focused on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
Jordanian director Bassel Ghandour’s The Alleys and Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s Feathers lead the nominations in the sixth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
The films each garnered nominations in four categories, including best film, director and screenplay.
Spearheaded and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), this edition focused on Arab-language films that premiered on the festival circuit outside of the Arab world in 2021.
It was voted on by 167 film critics from 68 countries, who viewed the films on Festival Scope.
- 5/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Summer is around the corner, which means Rooftop Films is almost back. New York cinephiles can look forward to another season of film screenings from the longtime nonprofit, which screens independent films in a variety of outdoor locations throughout New York City. Over time, Rooftop Films has become an essential institution in the indie film world, helping top directors get their work seen while connecting undiscovered artists to the resources that they need.
Notable films on the year’s lineup include Chloe Okuno’s “Watcher,” a Sundance horror hit in the tradition of paranoid classics like “Rosemary’s Baby;” James Morosini’s “I Love My Dad,” a comedy that took the top prizes in the Narrative category at SXSW; and Andrew Semans’ “Resurrection,” a psychological thriller that earned high marks from critics and fans alike at Sundance this year.
Tickets for select upcoming screenings are on sale now via the Rooftop Films website,...
Notable films on the year’s lineup include Chloe Okuno’s “Watcher,” a Sundance horror hit in the tradition of paranoid classics like “Rosemary’s Baby;” James Morosini’s “I Love My Dad,” a comedy that took the top prizes in the Narrative category at SXSW; and Andrew Semans’ “Resurrection,” a psychological thriller that earned high marks from critics and fans alike at Sundance this year.
Tickets for select upcoming screenings are on sale now via the Rooftop Films website,...
- 5/2/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Popular project and talent development focused on Arab filmmakers will run virtually for third year running.
The Doha Film Institute’s project and talent development event Qumra will take place virtually for the third year running, from March 18 to 23.
The eighth edition had been set to run as a physical event in and around Doha’s Souq Waqif district for the first time since 2019 but a fresh wave of Covid cases in the Gulf territory in early January has forced the Dfi to move it online again.
Additionally, travel restrictions and quarantining protocols would have also made it difficult for...
The Doha Film Institute’s project and talent development event Qumra will take place virtually for the third year running, from March 18 to 23.
The eighth edition had been set to run as a physical event in and around Doha’s Souq Waqif district for the first time since 2019 but a fresh wave of Covid cases in the Gulf territory in early January has forced the Dfi to move it online again.
Additionally, travel restrictions and quarantining protocols would have also made it difficult for...
- 1/25/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The Party Films Sales will screen exclusive images from Julien Guetta’s second feature film “Top Dogs” (“Les Cadors”) at Unifrance Rendez Vous in Paris.
“Top Dogs” is a comedy drama about two estranged brothers from Normandy. Antoine is happily married with two kids and a successful boat driver, whereas Christian is a globe-trotting hustler. When Antoine becomes involved in sleazy activities, Christian comes to his rescue. The film is headlined by Jean-Paul Rouve, the star of one of France’s biggest comedy franchises, “Les Tuches,” as well as Michel Blanc, another French comedy fixture (“Les bronzés”) and Grégoire Ludig (“Mandibules”).
“Top Dogs” marks the sophomore outing of Guetta whose feature debut “The Troubleshooter,” a comedy-adventure, garnered more than 145,000 admissions in France.
Currently in post-production, “Top Dogs” is produced by Maxime Delauney and Romain Rousseau at Nolita Cinéma, and Lionel Dutemple and Benjamin Morgaine at Princesse Beli. It was mainly shot in Cherbourg,...
“Top Dogs” is a comedy drama about two estranged brothers from Normandy. Antoine is happily married with two kids and a successful boat driver, whereas Christian is a globe-trotting hustler. When Antoine becomes involved in sleazy activities, Christian comes to his rescue. The film is headlined by Jean-Paul Rouve, the star of one of France’s biggest comedy franchises, “Les Tuches,” as well as Michel Blanc, another French comedy fixture (“Les bronzés”) and Grégoire Ludig (“Mandibules”).
“Top Dogs” marks the sophomore outing of Guetta whose feature debut “The Troubleshooter,” a comedy-adventure, garnered more than 145,000 admissions in France.
Currently in post-production, “Top Dogs” is produced by Maxime Delauney and Romain Rousseau at Nolita Cinéma, and Lionel Dutemple and Benjamin Morgaine at Princesse Beli. It was mainly shot in Cherbourg,...
- 1/13/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Earlier, Sundance announced that its 2022 edition will be hybrid. Most titles will be available online while their in-person festivities start up again in Park City. Their main slate has just gone live as well. Though the festival has a tendency to update their lineup as the festivities grow closer, their competition categories have at least been set in stone.
Naturally, we compiled all of the Asian and Asian diaspora-directed ones we could find so far. Like last year, most Asian titles tend to be in the documentaries. In the World Cinema Documentary Competition, at least 4 entries span from different corners of the continent: India (“All That Breathes”), Myanmar (“Midwives”), Lebanon (“Sirens”), and Israel (“Tantura”). 4 entries revolving around or by Asian diaspora filmmakers make their mark in the US Documentary Competition as well. “Free Chol Soo Lee”, “Jihad Rehab”, “Tiktok.Boom” and “The Exiles” cover fex-Al-Queda extremists, Tiananmen Square exiles, a wrongly-convicted Korean immigrant,...
Naturally, we compiled all of the Asian and Asian diaspora-directed ones we could find so far. Like last year, most Asian titles tend to be in the documentaries. In the World Cinema Documentary Competition, at least 4 entries span from different corners of the continent: India (“All That Breathes”), Myanmar (“Midwives”), Lebanon (“Sirens”), and Israel (“Tantura”). 4 entries revolving around or by Asian diaspora filmmakers make their mark in the US Documentary Competition as well. “Free Chol Soo Lee”, “Jihad Rehab”, “Tiktok.Boom” and “The Exiles” cover fex-Al-Queda extremists, Tiananmen Square exiles, a wrongly-convicted Korean immigrant,...
- 12/16/2021
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Amid ongoing disruption in the Arab world’s unstable fest landscape, Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is staying the course and increasingly proving its mettle in promoting the cream of the region’s cinematic crop while also providing key support in nurturing new works.
El Gouna chief Intishal Al Timimi proudly points out that the fifth edition of the Oct. 14-22 event has secured eight high-profile features from Arab directors, most of which will be having their Middle Eastern premieres in the Egyptian Red Sea resort after bowing in Cannes and Venice.
They comprise French-Moroccan veteran Nabil Ayouch’s high-energy hip-hop drama “Casablanca Beats”; and two works from Lebanon: Mounia Akl’s dramedy “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” which targets Lebanon’s political malaise; and Ely Dagher’s “The Sea Ahead,” about a young woman who returns from Paris to Beirut and reconnects with the life she had left behind. There...
El Gouna chief Intishal Al Timimi proudly points out that the fifth edition of the Oct. 14-22 event has secured eight high-profile features from Arab directors, most of which will be having their Middle Eastern premieres in the Egyptian Red Sea resort after bowing in Cannes and Venice.
They comprise French-Moroccan veteran Nabil Ayouch’s high-energy hip-hop drama “Casablanca Beats”; and two works from Lebanon: Mounia Akl’s dramedy “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” which targets Lebanon’s political malaise; and Ely Dagher’s “The Sea Ahead,” about a young woman who returns from Paris to Beirut and reconnects with the life she had left behind. There...
- 10/13/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The new fund gives production and post-production support to Arab world cinema projects.
Lebanese director Ely Dagher’s Beirut-set drama The Sea Ahead and Jordanian filmmaker Darin J. Sallam’s debut feature Farha are among the first 14 recipients of the Red Sea International Film Festival’s $14m fund.
Starring French-Lebanese actress Manal Issa as a young woman who returns to Beirut after many years of absence, The Sea Ahead world premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight earlier this year. It was Dagher’s first feature after Waves ’98, which won the Cannes Palme D’Or for best short film in 2015.
Farha will...
Lebanese director Ely Dagher’s Beirut-set drama The Sea Ahead and Jordanian filmmaker Darin J. Sallam’s debut feature Farha are among the first 14 recipients of the Red Sea International Film Festival’s $14m fund.
Starring French-Lebanese actress Manal Issa as a young woman who returns to Beirut after many years of absence, The Sea Ahead world premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight earlier this year. It was Dagher’s first feature after Waves ’98, which won the Cannes Palme D’Or for best short film in 2015.
Farha will...
- 9/6/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Saudi Arabia’s nascent Red Sea International Film Festival has revealed 14 Arabic feature films selected to receive production and post-production funding from its Red Sea Fund.
The announcement was made at the Venice Film Festival where the Red Sea festival and Saudi Arabia’s fledgling film industry have a substantial presence.
Among the beneficiaries of the fund are Jordanian writer and director Darin J. Sallam’s Toronto Film Festival-bound “Farha,” the story of 14-year-old girl Farha in Palestine in 1948, who watches from a locked pantry as catastrophe consumes her home, and Lebanese director Ely Dagher’s “The Sea Ahead,” that recently launched from the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
The announced grants for pics coming from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, mark the first round of funding from the deep-pocketed fund that in June announced a $10 million pot, which then during Cannes, in July, was increased to $14 million,...
The announcement was made at the Venice Film Festival where the Red Sea festival and Saudi Arabia’s fledgling film industry have a substantial presence.
Among the beneficiaries of the fund are Jordanian writer and director Darin J. Sallam’s Toronto Film Festival-bound “Farha,” the story of 14-year-old girl Farha in Palestine in 1948, who watches from a locked pantry as catastrophe consumes her home, and Lebanese director Ely Dagher’s “The Sea Ahead,” that recently launched from the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
The announced grants for pics coming from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, mark the first round of funding from the deep-pocketed fund that in June announced a $10 million pot, which then during Cannes, in July, was increased to $14 million,...
- 9/6/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italy’s Picomedia & Russia’s WeiT Partner For ‘Kurgan’
Italian scripted producer Picomedia, part of Asacha Media Group, and Russian producer WeiTMedia, part of Banijay, have partnered to co-produce six-part drama series Kurgan. Based on true events in 1982, the show begins in Northern Italy, where a 14-year-old boy in an affluent Italian family has a medical condition that no doctor in his country can treat. Bullied at school and desperate to fit in, he learns of a pioneering treatment by a Russian orthopaedic surgeon, Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov, in the city of Kurgan, Siberia. Co-written by Russian and Italian scriptwriters, the 6×60 minutes series will be produced in both languages with an Italian female lead and Russian male counterpart.
Yo-yo Champion Joins ‘The Sweepers’
Exclusive: Yo-yo world champions Gentry Stein has joined Michael Matteo Rossi’s upcoming action film The Sweepers; the project will mark Stein’s acting debut. The film also...
Italian scripted producer Picomedia, part of Asacha Media Group, and Russian producer WeiTMedia, part of Banijay, have partnered to co-produce six-part drama series Kurgan. Based on true events in 1982, the show begins in Northern Italy, where a 14-year-old boy in an affluent Italian family has a medical condition that no doctor in his country can treat. Bullied at school and desperate to fit in, he learns of a pioneering treatment by a Russian orthopaedic surgeon, Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov, in the city of Kurgan, Siberia. Co-written by Russian and Italian scriptwriters, the 6×60 minutes series will be produced in both languages with an Italian female lead and Russian male counterpart.
Yo-yo Champion Joins ‘The Sweepers’
Exclusive: Yo-yo world champions Gentry Stein has joined Michael Matteo Rossi’s upcoming action film The Sweepers; the project will mark Stein’s acting debut. The film also...
- 9/6/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The lineup for the 2021 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) at Cannes has been announced. See also the full lineups of the Official Selection and Critics’ Week.Our MenFEATURE Films A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano): The story of 15-year-old Chiara whose close-knit family falls apart after her father abandons them in Calabria. Chiara starts to investigate to understand why her father disappeared and as she gets closer to the truth, she is forced to decide what kind of future she wants for herself.Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard): Both lonely for different reasons, Ali and Ava meet through their shared affection for Sofia—the child of Ali’s Slovakian tenants, whom Ava teaches. Over a lunar month, sparks fly and a deep connection begins to grow.Between Two Worlds (Emmanuel Carrère)The Braves (Anaïs Volpé)A Brighter Tomorrow (Yassine Qnia)Clara Sola (Nathalie Álvarez Mesen)The Employer and the Employee (Manuel...
- 6/9/2021
- MUBI
The lineup for the Cannes Directors Fortnight was revealed on Tuesday, featuring new films by Clio Barnard, Joanna Hogg and Alice Rohrwacher. Of the 24 films selected for the lineup, exactly half have at least one woman director.
The 12 of 24 films in the Cannes Directors Fortnight, which is the independent arm of the Cannes Film Festival kicking off next month, dwarfs the number of female directors in the Cannes main competition lineup, in which only four of the 24 selected movies were directed by women. However, some of the movies for the Directors Fortnight feature women as co-directors, so 12 of 29 of the total directors are women.
The Directors Fortnight will host a special screening of Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part 1,” as “Part 2” will be playing in competition. Other notable films include “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” the first feature by actress Payal Kapadia, and “Hit the Road,” another debut feature by Panah Panahi,...
The 12 of 24 films in the Cannes Directors Fortnight, which is the independent arm of the Cannes Film Festival kicking off next month, dwarfs the number of female directors in the Cannes main competition lineup, in which only four of the 24 selected movies were directed by women. However, some of the movies for the Directors Fortnight feature women as co-directors, so 12 of 29 of the total directors are women.
The Directors Fortnight will host a special screening of Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part 1,” as “Part 2” will be playing in competition. Other notable films include “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” the first feature by actress Payal Kapadia, and “Hit the Road,” another debut feature by Panah Panahi,...
- 6/8/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement of the Cannes Critics’ Week lineup, now comes confirmation of the 25 movies that will screen in the festival’s other prestigious sidebar section, Directors’ Fortnight. The lineup includes eight debut features, including “Hit the Road” by Jafar Panahi’s son, Panah Panahi. Directors’ Fortnight 2021 opens with Emmanuel Carrère’s “Between Two Worlds,” starring Juliette Binoche as an author experiencing job insecurity. Other notable titles include “A Chiara,” the latest movie from “Mediterranea” and “A Ciambra” director Jonas Carpignano.
Perhaps the biggest draw for U.S. audiences will be the world premiere of Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II,” starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton, Charlie Heaton, Harris Dickinson, and Joe Alwyn. The film is executive produced by Martin Scorsese, who is also an executive producer on Fortnight title “Murina” (directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović). Hogg’s original “The Souvenir” was one...
Perhaps the biggest draw for U.S. audiences will be the world premiere of Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II,” starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton, Charlie Heaton, Harris Dickinson, and Joe Alwyn. The film is executive produced by Martin Scorsese, who is also an executive producer on Fortnight title “Murina” (directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović). Hogg’s original “The Souvenir” was one...
- 6/8/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
A full picture of the Cannes Film Festival is now coming into focus with the unveiling of the Directors’ Fortnight lineup. Following the Official Selection and the Critics’ Week lineups, this sidebar features Joanna Hogg’s highly-anticipated sequel The Souvenir Part II, as well as new films by Miguel Gomes, Jonas Carpignano, Clio Barnard, Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher, Matías Piñeiro, and more.
See below.
Features
A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano)
Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard)
Between Two Worlds (Emmanuel Carrère)
The Braves (Anaïs Volpé)
A Brighter Tomorrow (Yassine Qnia)
Clara Sola (Nathalie Álvarez Mesen)
The Employer and the Employee (Manuel Nieto)
Europa (Haider Rashid)
Futura
Întregalde (Radu Muntean)
The Hill where Lionesses Roar (Luàna Bajrami)
Hit the Road (Panah Panahi)
Magnetic Beats (Vincent Cardona)
Medusa (Anita Rocha da Silveira)
Murina (Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović)
Neptune Frost
A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)
Our Men (Rachel Lang)
Returning to Reims (Fragments) (Jean-Gabriel Périot...
See below.
Features
A Chiara (Jonas Carpignano)
Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard)
Between Two Worlds (Emmanuel Carrère)
The Braves (Anaïs Volpé)
A Brighter Tomorrow (Yassine Qnia)
Clara Sola (Nathalie Álvarez Mesen)
The Employer and the Employee (Manuel Nieto)
Europa (Haider Rashid)
Futura
Întregalde (Radu Muntean)
The Hill where Lionesses Roar (Luàna Bajrami)
Hit the Road (Panah Panahi)
Magnetic Beats (Vincent Cardona)
Medusa (Anita Rocha da Silveira)
Murina (Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović)
Neptune Frost
A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)
Our Men (Rachel Lang)
Returning to Reims (Fragments) (Jean-Gabriel Périot...
- 6/8/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Joanna Hogg, Clio Barnard, Jonas Carpignano titles among Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight 2021 selection
Parallel Cannes section will unveil 24 new films.
Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II will be among the 24 features world premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, running July 7-17 this year.
The non-competitive Cannes parallel section, overseen by French directors guild the Société des Réalisateurs (Srf), has unveiled an eclectic 2021 line-up of new films by established directors and emerging talent at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday (June 8).
Scroll down for the full selection
UK directors Barnard and Hogg were hotly tipped for Cannes 2020 until the main festival and parallel selections were cancelled due to the pandemic.
Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II will be among the 24 features world premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, running July 7-17 this year.
The non-competitive Cannes parallel section, overseen by French directors guild the Société des Réalisateurs (Srf), has unveiled an eclectic 2021 line-up of new films by established directors and emerging talent at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday (June 8).
Scroll down for the full selection
UK directors Barnard and Hogg were hotly tipped for Cannes 2020 until the main festival and parallel selections were cancelled due to the pandemic.
- 6/8/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Parallel Cannes section will unveil 24 new films.
Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II will be among the 24 features world premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, running July 7 to 17 this year.
The non-competitive Cannes parallel section, overseen by the French directors guild the Société des Réalisateurs (Srf), has unveiled an eclectic 2021 line-up of new films by established directors and emerging talent at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday (June 8).
Scroll down for the full selection
UK directors Barnard and Hogg were hotly tipped for Cannes 2020 until the main festival and parallel selections were cancelled due to the pandemic.
Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II will be among the 24 features world premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, running July 7 to 17 this year.
The non-competitive Cannes parallel section, overseen by the French directors guild the Société des Réalisateurs (Srf), has unveiled an eclectic 2021 line-up of new films by established directors and emerging talent at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday (June 8).
Scroll down for the full selection
UK directors Barnard and Hogg were hotly tipped for Cannes 2020 until the main festival and parallel selections were cancelled due to the pandemic.
- 6/8/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
After canceling its last edition due to the pandemic, Directors’ Fortnight, a section running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, will be back with a stylish and eclectic international lineup, including Joanna Hogg’s highly anticipated “The Souvenir Part II,” Clio Barnard’s “Ali & Ava,” Jonas Carpignano’s “A Chiara,” Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman’s Rwanda-set sci-fi film “Neptune Frost,” and Alice Rohrwacher, Pietro Marcello and Francesco Munzi’s “Futura.”
The highlight of this edition will likely be the world premiere of “The Souvenir Part II,” which will mark the first presence of Hogg, an acclaimed British writer-director, at Cannes. The romance-drama is headlined by Tilda Swinton — who will also be in Cannes for “The French Dispatch” and “Memoria” competing in the festival’s Official Selection — as well as Richard Ayoade, Charlie Heaton and Harris Dickinson. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, the film revolves around a student who begins to...
The highlight of this edition will likely be the world premiere of “The Souvenir Part II,” which will mark the first presence of Hogg, an acclaimed British writer-director, at Cannes. The romance-drama is headlined by Tilda Swinton — who will also be in Cannes for “The French Dispatch” and “Memoria” competing in the festival’s Official Selection — as well as Richard Ayoade, Charlie Heaton and Harris Dickinson. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, the film revolves around a student who begins to...
- 6/8/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Acquisitions include upcoming films Yousry Nasrallah, Muayad Alayan and Mohamed ben Attia.
Cairo-based film company Mad Solutions has unveiled an acquisition slate of more than 50 Arabic-language titles from 13 different territories that it plans to get into festivals and cinemas across the Middle East and North Africa in 2021 and 2022.
“During the pandemic, we used the opportunity to discuss the objectives and goals for Arab films, to strengthen links with the public, and to be a part of projects from the beginning, developing the films together,” said company co-heads Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab. “We feel that there is a bright future...
Cairo-based film company Mad Solutions has unveiled an acquisition slate of more than 50 Arabic-language titles from 13 different territories that it plans to get into festivals and cinemas across the Middle East and North Africa in 2021 and 2022.
“During the pandemic, we used the opportunity to discuss the objectives and goals for Arab films, to strengthen links with the public, and to be a part of projects from the beginning, developing the films together,” said company co-heads Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab. “We feel that there is a bright future...
- 5/28/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Especially eye-catching within the line-up is Avi Mograbi’s The First 54 Years, screening in the Forum section, and new titles from Ely Dagher and Brieuc Carnaille. Riding the wave of excellent results achieved by Filippo Meneghetti’s Two of Us (the French candidate for the 2021 Best International Film Oscar), Aurel’s Josep and Charlène Favier’s Slalom (both awarded Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection label), French international sales agent The Party Film Sales (directed by Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier and managed by Clémence Lavigne and Samuel Blanc) will cut a confident figure at the 71st Berlinale’s European Film Market. Stealing focus in their line-up is the documentary The First 54 Years – An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation by Israel’s Avi Mograbi, which will enjoy its world premiere in the Forum section, a Berliner line-up which the director is more than familiar with, having already presented Comment j'ai...
The Party Films Sales, the sales outfit behind the Golden-Globe nominated drama “Two of Us,” has acquired a trio of feature debuts from promising filmmakers, “Too Close to the Sun,” “The Sea Ahead,” and the animated film “My Neighbor’s Neighbours.”
All three films are set to be delivered later this year and are expected to world premiere in the festival circuit. The Party Films Sales will introduce all three projects at the virtual European Film Market.
“Too Close to the Sun” is directed by Brieuc Carnaille, a screenwriter-turned-filmmaker who is also a rock singer for the band Duel.
The film follows Clément Roussier (“Churchmen”) as Basile, a 30-something man who has just come out of the hospital and moved in with this youngest sister and closest confidant, Sarah. Suffering from a psychiatric disorder, Basil tries his best to re-establish a sense of normality in both his work and his love life.
All three films are set to be delivered later this year and are expected to world premiere in the festival circuit. The Party Films Sales will introduce all three projects at the virtual European Film Market.
“Too Close to the Sun” is directed by Brieuc Carnaille, a screenwriter-turned-filmmaker who is also a rock singer for the band Duel.
The film follows Clément Roussier (“Churchmen”) as Basile, a 30-something man who has just come out of the hospital and moved in with this youngest sister and closest confidant, Sarah. Suffering from a psychiatric disorder, Basil tries his best to re-establish a sense of normality in both his work and his love life.
- 2/23/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The Doha Film Institute has recruited a mix of prominent film directors comprising Claire Denis, James Gray and Jessica Hausner, as well as other top notch talents, to act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator, which will be held online.
Ace cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (“Ford v Ferrari”), and Oscar-winning sound designer Mark Mangini (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) will join the trio of auteurs for the creative workshop event. All are returning Qumra Masters.
Qumra, which is an Arab word believed to be the origin of the word “camera,” is dedicated to supporting and shepherding first and second works by Arab and international directors.
Qumra 2021, which is scheduled to run March 12-17, will present projects in various stages for 30 feature films, six TV series projects and 12 shorts coming from 21 countries.
The mentors will nurture the talent through one-on-one virtual meetings and master classes.
Director and producer teams will...
Ace cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (“Ford v Ferrari”), and Oscar-winning sound designer Mark Mangini (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) will join the trio of auteurs for the creative workshop event. All are returning Qumra Masters.
Qumra, which is an Arab word believed to be the origin of the word “camera,” is dedicated to supporting and shepherding first and second works by Arab and international directors.
Qumra 2021, which is scheduled to run March 12-17, will present projects in various stages for 30 feature films, six TV series projects and 12 shorts coming from 21 countries.
The mentors will nurture the talent through one-on-one virtual meetings and master classes.
Director and producer teams will...
- 2/22/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Lebanese director Ely Dagher’s “Harvest” (see interview here), a drama about a young woman contending with identity issues on returning to Beirut after a long stint abroad, is the standout title in this year’s Final Cut in Venice workshop – part of the Venice Film Festival – which provides post-production support and partnership opportunities to films from Africa and the Arab world.
This debut feature by Dagher – whose short “Waves ‘98” was awarded the short film Palme d’Or at the 68th Cannes Film Festival – investigates the identity on many levels of Jana, a woman in her mid-twenties who returns to Beirut after having failed to succeed in her independent life abroad, according to promotional materials.
The Venice Biennale jury, made up of Marie-Pierre Macia, Antonio Medici, and Michel Zana, praised “Harvest” for its “original look at the existential questions of the new generation” in Lebanon today. They pointed out that...
This debut feature by Dagher – whose short “Waves ‘98” was awarded the short film Palme d’Or at the 68th Cannes Film Festival – investigates the identity on many levels of Jana, a woman in her mid-twenties who returns to Beirut after having failed to succeed in her independent life abroad, according to promotional materials.
The Venice Biennale jury, made up of Marie-Pierre Macia, Antonio Medici, and Michel Zana, praised “Harvest” for its “original look at the existential questions of the new generation” in Lebanon today. They pointed out that...
- 9/10/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
“Harvest” (“Jana”) by Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ely Dagher is one of six films from Africa and the Middle East selected for the Final Cut section in Venice Film Festival industry event, Venice Production Bridge.
The film’s producers at France’s indie outfit Andolfi are hoping to pick up prizes in Venice, in kind or in cash, that will allow them to fill their funding gap and wrap up post-production by the end of the year, with the goal of returning to Cannes in 2021.
Dagher won best short in Cannes back in 2015 with his animation “Waves98,” the lyrical tale of a disillusioned young man in late 90s Beirut, which went on to win several awards on the festival circuit.
“Harvest” tells the story of Jana, a 26-year-old woman who returns to Lebanon after several years abroad and is forced to immerse herself in the world she was once eager to leave.
The film’s producers at France’s indie outfit Andolfi are hoping to pick up prizes in Venice, in kind or in cash, that will allow them to fill their funding gap and wrap up post-production by the end of the year, with the goal of returning to Cannes in 2021.
Dagher won best short in Cannes back in 2015 with his animation “Waves98,” the lyrical tale of a disillusioned young man in late 90s Beirut, which went on to win several awards on the festival circuit.
“Harvest” tells the story of Jana, a 26-year-old woman who returns to Lebanon after several years abroad and is forced to immerse herself in the world she was once eager to leave.
- 9/8/2020
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Some 800 professionals have registered to physically attend the hybrid onsite-digital industry strand of the Venice Film Festival.
The Venice Production Bridge (Vpb) opens its doors for business on Thursday (September 3) on the third floor of the Venice Lido’s iconic Hotel Excelsior, with temperature checks at the entrance as well as obligatory masks and social distancing measures inside.
Unfolding September 3-11, it is the biggest industry event to physically take place since the European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin, which ran February 20-27, just two weeks before Europe started locking down mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Film sales and...
The Venice Production Bridge (Vpb) opens its doors for business on Thursday (September 3) on the third floor of the Venice Lido’s iconic Hotel Excelsior, with temperature checks at the entrance as well as obligatory masks and social distancing measures inside.
Unfolding September 3-11, it is the biggest industry event to physically take place since the European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin, which ran February 20-27, just two weeks before Europe started locking down mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Film sales and...
- 9/2/2020
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The Venice Film Festival’s industry-focused Production Bridge had unveiled the line-up of projects that will take part in its ‘Final Cut In Venice’ workshop this year. The six films all hail from the Mena region. There are three fiction projects: Hadjer by Anis Djaad and Alegria Productions; Harvest by Ely Dagher and Andolfi; and Soula by Salah Issaad and Issaad Film Productions. They are joined by three documentaries: Guardian Of The Worlds by Leïla Chaïbi and L’image d’après; Our Choices by Salah Al Ashkar and Caractères Productions; and The Blue Inmates (Lebanon) by Zeina Daccache and Catharsis-Lebanese Center for Drama Therapy. Those projects will compete for a variety of awards that will aid them in the post-production process.
The first edition of a new immersive talent development lab and co-production fund for...
The first edition of a new immersive talent development lab and co-production fund for...
- 8/5/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Titles include the feature debut of Palme d’Or winner Ely Dagher.
The feature debut of Palme d’Or winner Ely Dagher is one of six titles from Africa and the Middle East selected for works-in-progress initiative Final Cut in Venice.
The three-day workshop, run by the Venice Production Bridge of the Venice Film Festival, runs from September 7-9 and will wholly take place online this year due to the virus crisis. All six selected titles are in production, and will be presented to industry to create co-production and post-production opportunities.
Dagher’s feature is titled Harvest and centres on...
The feature debut of Palme d’Or winner Ely Dagher is one of six titles from Africa and the Middle East selected for works-in-progress initiative Final Cut in Venice.
The three-day workshop, run by the Venice Production Bridge of the Venice Film Festival, runs from September 7-9 and will wholly take place online this year due to the virus crisis. All six selected titles are in production, and will be presented to industry to create co-production and post-production opportunities.
Dagher’s feature is titled Harvest and centres on...
- 8/5/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The Venice Film Festival has unveiled this year's lineup for its annual Final Cut workshop, picking six in-progress projects from Africa and the Arab world, which are looking for post-production support and partnership opportunities.
Drama features picked for the 2020 Final Cut in Venice selection include Harvest from Lebanese filmmaker Ely Dagher and two Algerian productions: Anis Djaad's Hadjer —The Olive Grove and Soula from director Salah Issaad. Three documentaries — Leila Chaibi's Tunisian-set Guardian of the Worlds; Our Choices from Syrian-born filmmaker Salah Al Ashkar, which follows events in Aleppo from the first anti-Assad demonstrations in 2011 up to the ...
Drama features picked for the 2020 Final Cut in Venice selection include Harvest from Lebanese filmmaker Ely Dagher and two Algerian productions: Anis Djaad's Hadjer —The Olive Grove and Soula from director Salah Issaad. Three documentaries — Leila Chaibi's Tunisian-set Guardian of the Worlds; Our Choices from Syrian-born filmmaker Salah Al Ashkar, which follows events in Aleppo from the first anti-Assad demonstrations in 2011 up to the ...
The Venice Film Festival has unveiled this year's lineup for its annual Final Cut workshop, picking six in-progress projects from Africa and the Arab world, which are looking for post-production support and partnership opportunities.
Drama features picked for the 2020 Final Cut in Venice selection include Harvest from Lebanese filmmaker Ely Dagher and two Algerian productions: Anis Djaad's Hadjer —The Olive Grove and Soula from director Salah Issaad. Three documentaries — Leila Chaibi's Tunisian-set Guardian of the Worlds; Our Choices from Syrian-born filmmaker Salah Al Ashkar, which follows events in Aleppo from the first anti-Assad demonstrations in 2011 up to the ...
Drama features picked for the 2020 Final Cut in Venice selection include Harvest from Lebanese filmmaker Ely Dagher and two Algerian productions: Anis Djaad's Hadjer —The Olive Grove and Soula from director Salah Issaad. Three documentaries — Leila Chaibi's Tunisian-set Guardian of the Worlds; Our Choices from Syrian-born filmmaker Salah Al Ashkar, which follows events in Aleppo from the first anti-Assad demonstrations in 2011 up to the ...
Films include Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon and Mohammed Diab’s Amira.
Cairo-based Mad Solutions has boarded Arab sales and distribution rights for 11 anticipated films from the Middle East and North Africa, most of which are now in post-production.
It is handling three of the titles with Shahinaz El-Akkad’s Lagoonie Film Production: Amira, Huda’s Salon and Daughters Of Abdulrahman
Amira, the third film from Egypt’s Mohamed Diab following the award-winning dramas 678 and Clash, is in post-production. Palestinian Oscar-nominated director Hany Abu-Assad thriller Huda’s Salon is midway through shooting.
Daughters Of Abdulrahman is the debut feature...
Cairo-based Mad Solutions has boarded Arab sales and distribution rights for 11 anticipated films from the Middle East and North Africa, most of which are now in post-production.
It is handling three of the titles with Shahinaz El-Akkad’s Lagoonie Film Production: Amira, Huda’s Salon and Daughters Of Abdulrahman
Amira, the third film from Egypt’s Mohamed Diab following the award-winning dramas 678 and Clash, is in post-production. Palestinian Oscar-nominated director Hany Abu-Assad thriller Huda’s Salon is midway through shooting.
Daughters Of Abdulrahman is the debut feature...
- 6/23/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
“We finished the shoot for Ely Dagher’s Harvest just as the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Lebanon.”
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s coming-of-age drama 1982, which was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week; and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
Schortcut Films, which he...
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s coming-of-age drama 1982, which was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week; and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
Schortcut Films, which he...
- 4/15/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
“We finished the shoot for Ely Dagher’s film Harvest just as the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Lebanon.”
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s bittersweet coming-of-age drama 1982, which premiered at Toronto and was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week, winning three awards, and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
Beirut-based producer Georges Schoucair is the founder and CEO of top Middle East independent film production house Abbout Productions and its more recently created sister company Schortcut Films.
The recent credits of Abbout Productions include Oualid Mouaness’s bittersweet coming-of-age drama 1982, which premiered at Toronto and was Lebanon’s submission to the Academy Awards’ best international film category this year; Ahmad Ghossein’s All This Victory, which premiered in Venice Critics’ Week, winning three awards, and Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s feature-length documentary Amal.
- 4/15/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
El Gouna Ff 2019: CineGouna Platform AwardsCineGouna Platform, part of El Gouna Film Festival bestows its awards to various projects by directors and producers from the Arab world who were in competition seeking creative and financial support. The projects involved include some in development and others in post-production.Participants of the 3rd Edition of CineGouna Platform
The Springboard Jury of experts in filmmaking from all over the world chose a winner in both the projects in development and the ones in post-production. The winners receive a CineGouna Platform Certificate and a cash prize of Us $15,000. Additional awards are presented through local and regional institutions for a total of $250,000 Us.
In Post-Production — Watch for these as they appear in the next editions of top international film festivals!
Captains of Za’atari, an Egyptian film in post-production directed by Ali El-Arabi won an award worth $10,000 from New Century Production and another reward...
The Springboard Jury of experts in filmmaking from all over the world chose a winner in both the projects in development and the ones in post-production. The winners receive a CineGouna Platform Certificate and a cash prize of Us $15,000. Additional awards are presented through local and regional institutions for a total of $250,000 Us.
In Post-Production — Watch for these as they appear in the next editions of top international film festivals!
Captains of Za’atari, an Egyptian film in post-production directed by Ali El-Arabi won an award worth $10,000 from New Century Production and another reward...
- 10/5/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Sudan’s “You Will Die at Twenty,” a “call for freedom” in the words of director Amjad Abu Alala, won the Golden Star award for best narrative feature film at the El Gouna Film Festival, one of the Arab world’s top film events. The film previously won the Venice Film Festival’s award for best debut film.
The picture is about a young man, Muzamil, raised to believe that he will die at 20, due to a holy man’s prophecy. Muzamil is torn between the counsel of religious leaders to study the Koran and the advice of a hedonistic father figure to enjoy what little time he has left.
Interviewed at the festival, the director said: “I think all I did was put a mirror up to what I see. It has to do with this absolute faith in the prophecies of holy men.” He had previously told Variety:...
The picture is about a young man, Muzamil, raised to believe that he will die at 20, due to a holy man’s prophecy. Muzamil is torn between the counsel of religious leaders to study the Koran and the advice of a hedonistic father figure to enjoy what little time he has left.
Interviewed at the festival, the director said: “I think all I did was put a mirror up to what I see. It has to do with this absolute faith in the prophecies of holy men.” He had previously told Variety:...
- 10/1/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Festival chief Intishal Al Tamimi says El Gouna Film Festival has built solid foundations.
Sudanese drama You Will Die At Twenty has scooped the top prize at the third edition of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, the $50,000 El Gouna Golden Star for narrative film. The festival ran in the Red Sea resort from September 17-27.
The debut feature of Dubai-born Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala is a contemporary drama about a young man raised to believe that will die at the age of 20-years-old.
You Will Die At Twenty world premiered in Venice where it won the Lion of...
Sudanese drama You Will Die At Twenty has scooped the top prize at the third edition of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, the $50,000 El Gouna Golden Star for narrative film. The festival ran in the Red Sea resort from September 17-27.
The debut feature of Dubai-born Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala is a contemporary drama about a young man raised to believe that will die at the age of 20-years-old.
You Will Die At Twenty world premiered in Venice where it won the Lion of...
- 9/30/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
El Gouna Film Festival’s co-financing platform meted out $250,000 in prizes.
Lebanese directors Ely Dagher and Remi Itani have scooped the official $15,000 top prizes for their respective feature documentary projects Harvest and A Long Breath at the El Gouna Film Festival’s CineGouna SpringBoard co-financing and industry platform in Egypt.
Dagher’s Harvest was presented alongside 12 other projects in development, spanning both fiction and non-fiction.
It follows a young woman who returns to her home city of Beirut after a long time away and reconnects with her old life. It will be Dagher’s first feature after his short film...
Lebanese directors Ely Dagher and Remi Itani have scooped the official $15,000 top prizes for their respective feature documentary projects Harvest and A Long Breath at the El Gouna Film Festival’s CineGouna SpringBoard co-financing and industry platform in Egypt.
Dagher’s Harvest was presented alongside 12 other projects in development, spanning both fiction and non-fiction.
It follows a young woman who returns to her home city of Beirut after a long time away and reconnects with her old life. It will be Dagher’s first feature after his short film...
- 9/27/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Films from Chile, Lebanon, China and South America selected.
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), administered by the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr), has announced its 2019 selection for the Hbf+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme.
Six projects from Chile, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Brazil and China will receive €50,000 each through their European co-producers. The selection includes two debuts, three sophmore films and a third feature, and were picked from 38 applications.
Funded by the EU’s Creative Europe – Media programme, the fund provides financial support to European producers serving as minority co-producers on features by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle...
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), administered by the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr), has announced its 2019 selection for the Hbf+Europe: Minority Co-production Support scheme.
Six projects from Chile, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Brazil and China will receive €50,000 each through their European co-producers. The selection includes two debuts, three sophmore films and a third feature, and were picked from 38 applications.
Funded by the EU’s Creative Europe – Media programme, the fund provides financial support to European producers serving as minority co-producers on features by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle...
- 7/3/2019
- by Tofe Ayeni
- ScreenDaily
Vimeo has announced its 2018 nominees for the Best of the Year Staff Picks Awards. Vimeo has recognized the best Staff Picks of the year by calling out the winners on its blog since 2016, but the company is elevating its end-of-the-year celebration this year by revealing nominations and bringing in a distinguished jury for each category to decide the winner. Each award recipient will receive a cash prize and a physical trophy, in addition to the Best of the Year badge, and the winning films will be screened at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on January 17th.
There are three jurors for each Staff Pick category, including the 2017 winners for each respective category. Categories include: Best of Action Sports, Best of Animation, Best of Comedy, Best of Documentary, Best of Drama, Best of Eye Candy and Best of Travel. Jury members include Alan Cumming, Roger Ross Williams, Reinaldo Green, and Sarah Schneider,...
There are three jurors for each Staff Pick category, including the 2017 winners for each respective category. Categories include: Best of Action Sports, Best of Animation, Best of Comedy, Best of Documentary, Best of Drama, Best of Eye Candy and Best of Travel. Jury members include Alan Cumming, Roger Ross Williams, Reinaldo Green, and Sarah Schneider,...
- 1/7/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Vertical Entertainment is scheduling a day and date release for later this month.
UK genre outfit Devilworks has secured a Us distribution deal on its supernatural horror The Hollow Child with Vertical Entertainment.
In the film, highly intelligent and malicious creatures are enticing children into the woods with an ancient hypnotic song. Samantha, a young foster teen, must fight to expose the danger and save her younger sister.
It was directed by Jeremy Lutter (Reset). Cast includes Jessica McLeod (Everfall) and Hannah Cheramy (Colossal). Ben Rollo wrote the script and Robin Chan executive produced the film.
Vertical is scheduling a...
UK genre outfit Devilworks has secured a Us distribution deal on its supernatural horror The Hollow Child with Vertical Entertainment.
In the film, highly intelligent and malicious creatures are enticing children into the woods with an ancient hypnotic song. Samantha, a young foster teen, must fight to expose the danger and save her younger sister.
It was directed by Jeremy Lutter (Reset). Cast includes Jessica McLeod (Everfall) and Hannah Cheramy (Colossal). Ben Rollo wrote the script and Robin Chan executive produced the film.
Vertical is scheduling a...
- 5/11/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
The second edition of Qumra, March 4 - 9, organized by the Doha Film Institute has wrapped. Through a series of one-on-one meetings, consultations and tutorials, delegates at Qumra - the producers and directors associated with the 33 projects from 19 countries selected for the industry program - are provided with deep insights on how their films can find their voice in the global film market.
Only 100+ people, all working hard and all meeting every day is especially appealing. Seen in light of mega-events as Berlin, Cannes, Tiff and Sundance, the intimacy of everyone sharing meals, attending the same party, staying at the same hotels within the famed souk and in walking distance to the incredibly beautiful Museum of Islamic Art, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei where morning events, classes and screenings take place makes this event forever memorable.
Mentoring is a natural result of the rich mix of people from all levels of the industry sharing themselves along with their expertise.
In my closing conversation with Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi, Qumra Deputy Director Hanaa Issa and Artistic Advisor for the Doha Film Institute, filmmaker Elia Suleiman, I had quite pointed questions to ask but in fact, they were too pointed because as Elia said, “While the Qatar film industry is still in its infancy, we are all discovering and learning about the region and Qatar, the power of the filmmakers’ voices. We have no target to hit, because that would be too confining.”
What is the objective of all the activity of Dfi?
Fatma : Qumra marks the beginning of new collaborations, new creative partnerships and new friendships. At its heart, the mission of this event is to support emerging filmmakers. The program has been designed with the constant goal of creating a supportive and productive space for projects by emerging filmmakers to be nurtured and to provide maximum opportunities for our filmmakers to benefit from the wisdom of the most experienced industry experts in the world.
“Last year, we launched Qumra and embarked on an ambitious journey to provide emerging talent with an industry platform to help them build their skills and foster meaningful industry connections. In its second edition, we are excited to see it define its own niche with experts from across the world taking part in the discussions and asserting their commitment to supporting young filmmakers. We thank them for being here in Qatar and sharing their experience with the spirit of generosity that has come to embody this event.”
The objective of supporting Arab voices is being met faster than expected as shown by the success of ‘ Theeb’.
Editor: “Theeb” has won numerous awards in festivals including its debut in Venice where director-writer Naji Abu Nowar won for Best Director, winning the U.K.’s top BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer by Naji Abu Nowar and Rupert Lloyd and reaching the level of nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
This coproduction between Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and U.K. was funded by Doha Film Institute, Visions Sud Est and Anad of Abu Dhabi and it has been sold by top international sales agent Fortissimo to Australia (Jiff Distribution), Belgium (ABC), Middle East (Mad Solutions), Netherlands (ABC – Cinemien), Norway (As Fidalgo), Switzerland (trigon-film) U.K. (New Wave) and U.S. (Film Movement).
Hanaa Issa : “In many ways, Qumra is the culmination of the work we have been doing at the Doha Film Institute over the past five years. It builds on the existing support we give to filmmakers through our education and development programs, our funding programs, and our screenings and film appreciation initiatives. Our first edition showed us that the format worked and provided meaningful results to all those who participated, and we are confident that the second edition has contributed to extending further support to our talents.
I notice how many young filmmakers are here, and how shorts seem to be a strong suit right now for them. How does this objective apply specifically to Qatar?
Hanaa : The Dfi is making Qatar voices heard by traveling, bringing a package of films and selected participants to Berlin, Cannes, Dubai and Clermont-Ferrand, the world’s first and still most prestigious short film festival.
Elia: Qumra is for the young filmmakers and to inspire them, especially at a time when fences and borders are being built all around, and new ones are springing everywhere in the world. The imagination and poetry of our young filmmakers serve as a resistance to these borders. The fact that we are here at Qumra shows our confidence in our filmmakers in breaking down these barriers.
Are you getting any feedback yet?
Elia : I mix among everyone and am hearing very positive things from the filmmakers, the experts and festival programmers.
I heard James Schamus say it is unique. I’ve had several conversations with young women filmmakers that go beyond the subject of filmmaking.
Elia: There are more women here than last year, perhaps because the doors are so recently opened.
How do you evaluate all that has happened here?
Fatma: Very soon after the event, all together, every person involved in the event reviews every step and we forecast trends from what we see has taken place so far. We plan how to fulfil the needs of the filmmakers as we grow.
How do you see the future?
Hanaa: Many more people want to come and some want to come at their own expense. We want to meet the demands and also to keep the integrity of Qumra and insure that projects develop with follow up by all participants. We want to keep the format and avoid getting too big, to keep it relevant…We want to see the evolution of the projects here.
I myself love the intimacy and fear its loss as more people become aware of how great this program is. As press, I hesitate to write to tell more people about it because I want to keep it small as a participant.
Elia: In ten years perhaps one of the Masters will be someone who began here.
Fatma: The returnees from the first year are here with passion. And yet we need to guard the windows for new comers.
Hanaa: I would say Qumra is “elastic”.
Those are good closing words. “Elastic” defines Qumra now. Thank you for this look at what has happened so far at Qumra. I hope to remain a part of the Qumra family now that I have participated with the short filmmakers myself and have experienced the people’s warm hospitality!
From the official press notes:
Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said: “Qumra offers audiences highly engaging film experiences presenting new insights into the language of cinema and the process behind the creation of compelling films. They will also be educational and inspirational, underlining our commitment to strengthening film culture in Qatar by promoting access to and appreciation of world cinema.”
Masters and master classes with James Schamus, Joshua Oppenheimer, Naomi Kawase, Aleksandr Sokurov and Nuri Bilge Ceylan interested all participants and much of the public.
The Masters screenings, accompanied by Q&A sessions with the visiting Qumra Masters linked to each film were “The Look of Silence” (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Qumra Master Joshua Oppenheimer, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Qumra Master Nuri Bilge Ceylan; “Russian Ark” (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Qumra Master Aleksandr Sokurov; “The Mourning Forest” (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Qumra Master Naomi Kawase; and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee, co-written and produced by Lee’s longtime collaborator and Qumra Master, James Schamus.
The ‘New Voices in Cinema’ screenings included two feature films granted by the Doha Film Institute: “ Mediterranea” (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano being sold internationally by Ndm and Wme; “ Roundabout in my Head”/ “Fi rassi roun-point” (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015); and two award-winning short films “Waves 98” by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015), winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and “The Palm Tree ” (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi, winner of the 2015 Ajyal Youth Film Festival Made in Qatar Award for Best Documentary.
Many of the industry guests included returnees as well as the new guests which count Bero Beyer, Rotterdam; Tine Fisher, Cph Dox; Christophe Le Parc, Director’s Fortnight, Cannes; Vincenzo Bugno, World Cinema Fund, Berlinale; Cameron Bailey, Tiff and Carlo Chatrian, Locarno here for their second time; Sundance for its first year; Matthijs Wouter Knol, European Film Market; Mike Goodridge, Protagonist; Memento Films, Arte; Michael Werner, Fortissimo; Alaa Karkouti, Mad Solutions and Selim El Azar, Gulf Films.
Also attending for the first time was Netflix who picked up “Under the Shadow” an elevated horror/ thriller partially funded by the Doha Film Institute, Film Movement and the Ford Foundation.
The closing night party was a sumptuous affair held in the desert, an homage to the tent dwellings of the Doha Bedouins, grandparents of those who are now forging a new urban and international identity.
Only 100+ people, all working hard and all meeting every day is especially appealing. Seen in light of mega-events as Berlin, Cannes, Tiff and Sundance, the intimacy of everyone sharing meals, attending the same party, staying at the same hotels within the famed souk and in walking distance to the incredibly beautiful Museum of Islamic Art, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei where morning events, classes and screenings take place makes this event forever memorable.
Mentoring is a natural result of the rich mix of people from all levels of the industry sharing themselves along with their expertise.
In my closing conversation with Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi, Qumra Deputy Director Hanaa Issa and Artistic Advisor for the Doha Film Institute, filmmaker Elia Suleiman, I had quite pointed questions to ask but in fact, they were too pointed because as Elia said, “While the Qatar film industry is still in its infancy, we are all discovering and learning about the region and Qatar, the power of the filmmakers’ voices. We have no target to hit, because that would be too confining.”
What is the objective of all the activity of Dfi?
Fatma : Qumra marks the beginning of new collaborations, new creative partnerships and new friendships. At its heart, the mission of this event is to support emerging filmmakers. The program has been designed with the constant goal of creating a supportive and productive space for projects by emerging filmmakers to be nurtured and to provide maximum opportunities for our filmmakers to benefit from the wisdom of the most experienced industry experts in the world.
“Last year, we launched Qumra and embarked on an ambitious journey to provide emerging talent with an industry platform to help them build their skills and foster meaningful industry connections. In its second edition, we are excited to see it define its own niche with experts from across the world taking part in the discussions and asserting their commitment to supporting young filmmakers. We thank them for being here in Qatar and sharing their experience with the spirit of generosity that has come to embody this event.”
The objective of supporting Arab voices is being met faster than expected as shown by the success of ‘ Theeb’.
Editor: “Theeb” has won numerous awards in festivals including its debut in Venice where director-writer Naji Abu Nowar won for Best Director, winning the U.K.’s top BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer by Naji Abu Nowar and Rupert Lloyd and reaching the level of nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
This coproduction between Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and U.K. was funded by Doha Film Institute, Visions Sud Est and Anad of Abu Dhabi and it has been sold by top international sales agent Fortissimo to Australia (Jiff Distribution), Belgium (ABC), Middle East (Mad Solutions), Netherlands (ABC – Cinemien), Norway (As Fidalgo), Switzerland (trigon-film) U.K. (New Wave) and U.S. (Film Movement).
Hanaa Issa : “In many ways, Qumra is the culmination of the work we have been doing at the Doha Film Institute over the past five years. It builds on the existing support we give to filmmakers through our education and development programs, our funding programs, and our screenings and film appreciation initiatives. Our first edition showed us that the format worked and provided meaningful results to all those who participated, and we are confident that the second edition has contributed to extending further support to our talents.
I notice how many young filmmakers are here, and how shorts seem to be a strong suit right now for them. How does this objective apply specifically to Qatar?
Hanaa : The Dfi is making Qatar voices heard by traveling, bringing a package of films and selected participants to Berlin, Cannes, Dubai and Clermont-Ferrand, the world’s first and still most prestigious short film festival.
Elia: Qumra is for the young filmmakers and to inspire them, especially at a time when fences and borders are being built all around, and new ones are springing everywhere in the world. The imagination and poetry of our young filmmakers serve as a resistance to these borders. The fact that we are here at Qumra shows our confidence in our filmmakers in breaking down these barriers.
Are you getting any feedback yet?
Elia : I mix among everyone and am hearing very positive things from the filmmakers, the experts and festival programmers.
I heard James Schamus say it is unique. I’ve had several conversations with young women filmmakers that go beyond the subject of filmmaking.
Elia: There are more women here than last year, perhaps because the doors are so recently opened.
How do you evaluate all that has happened here?
Fatma: Very soon after the event, all together, every person involved in the event reviews every step and we forecast trends from what we see has taken place so far. We plan how to fulfil the needs of the filmmakers as we grow.
How do you see the future?
Hanaa: Many more people want to come and some want to come at their own expense. We want to meet the demands and also to keep the integrity of Qumra and insure that projects develop with follow up by all participants. We want to keep the format and avoid getting too big, to keep it relevant…We want to see the evolution of the projects here.
I myself love the intimacy and fear its loss as more people become aware of how great this program is. As press, I hesitate to write to tell more people about it because I want to keep it small as a participant.
Elia: In ten years perhaps one of the Masters will be someone who began here.
Fatma: The returnees from the first year are here with passion. And yet we need to guard the windows for new comers.
Hanaa: I would say Qumra is “elastic”.
Those are good closing words. “Elastic” defines Qumra now. Thank you for this look at what has happened so far at Qumra. I hope to remain a part of the Qumra family now that I have participated with the short filmmakers myself and have experienced the people’s warm hospitality!
From the official press notes:
Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said: “Qumra offers audiences highly engaging film experiences presenting new insights into the language of cinema and the process behind the creation of compelling films. They will also be educational and inspirational, underlining our commitment to strengthening film culture in Qatar by promoting access to and appreciation of world cinema.”
Masters and master classes with James Schamus, Joshua Oppenheimer, Naomi Kawase, Aleksandr Sokurov and Nuri Bilge Ceylan interested all participants and much of the public.
The Masters screenings, accompanied by Q&A sessions with the visiting Qumra Masters linked to each film were “The Look of Silence” (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Qumra Master Joshua Oppenheimer, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Qumra Master Nuri Bilge Ceylan; “Russian Ark” (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Qumra Master Aleksandr Sokurov; “The Mourning Forest” (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Qumra Master Naomi Kawase; and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee, co-written and produced by Lee’s longtime collaborator and Qumra Master, James Schamus.
The ‘New Voices in Cinema’ screenings included two feature films granted by the Doha Film Institute: “ Mediterranea” (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano being sold internationally by Ndm and Wme; “ Roundabout in my Head”/ “Fi rassi roun-point” (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015); and two award-winning short films “Waves 98” by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015), winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and “The Palm Tree ” (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi, winner of the 2015 Ajyal Youth Film Festival Made in Qatar Award for Best Documentary.
Many of the industry guests included returnees as well as the new guests which count Bero Beyer, Rotterdam; Tine Fisher, Cph Dox; Christophe Le Parc, Director’s Fortnight, Cannes; Vincenzo Bugno, World Cinema Fund, Berlinale; Cameron Bailey, Tiff and Carlo Chatrian, Locarno here for their second time; Sundance for its first year; Matthijs Wouter Knol, European Film Market; Mike Goodridge, Protagonist; Memento Films, Arte; Michael Werner, Fortissimo; Alaa Karkouti, Mad Solutions and Selim El Azar, Gulf Films.
Also attending for the first time was Netflix who picked up “Under the Shadow” an elevated horror/ thriller partially funded by the Doha Film Institute, Film Movement and the Ford Foundation.
The closing night party was a sumptuous affair held in the desert, an homage to the tent dwellings of the Doha Bedouins, grandparents of those who are now forging a new urban and international identity.
- 3/24/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Qumra, the annual industry event by the Doha Film Institute designed to nurture the development of emerging filmmakers, will welcome more than 100 industry professionals, including international film festival directors, producers, fund managers, script consultants, distributors and other experts during its second edition to be held from March 4 to 9, 2016.
A number of industry leaders who attended the inaugural edition last year have confirmed their participation for the second time alongside many new organizations represented for the first time at the annual gathering dedicated to supporting first- and second-time filmmakers on both a creative and practical level. The delegates come from as far afield as Argentina, Australia, India, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Egypt and the Us.
Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Qumra presents a very important component in nurturing a film industry in Qatar and the Arab world and the participation of international industry experts is integral to this initiative. I would like to thank each of these seasoned professionals for lending their expertise to benefit the participating projects and for being part of the unique creative network that we have cultivated through Qumra.”
She added: “We have seen many productive and tangible outcomes for the projects that were developed in the first edition of Qumra and I am confident that the connections made between emerging filmmakers and industry mentors in the coming week will contribute to the growth of a more robust regional film industry and benefit the participants far into the future.”
The Qumra industry program is centered around 33 projects from Qatar, the Arab region and the rest of the world at various stages of development. The industry sessions are presented in two strands: tutorials, workshops, consultations and one-on-one meetings for projects still in development; and a series of work-in-progress and ‘picture lock’ screenings and feedback sessions for projects in post production. I am proud to be a part of the tutorials and one-on-one sessions with the filmmakers working on short films.
Among the leading industry names to attend the event this year are: David Parfitt, Academy Award-winning producer, Chairman of Film London and ex-Chairman of BAFTA; Christophe Leparc, Managing Director, Programmer at Director’s Fortnight Cannes Film Festival and recently appointed Festival Director of Cinemed; Cameron Bailey, Festival Director, Toronto International Film Festival; Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of Festival Del Film Locarno; Vincenzo Bugno, Project Manager of Berlinale World Cinema Fund and member of the Berlinale Competition Selection Committee; Matthijs Wouter Knol, Director of the European Film Market at the Berlin International Film Festival; Remi Burah, Senior Executive Vice President, Arte France Cinéma; Cara Mertes, Director of the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms; Mike Goodridge, CEO of Protagonist Pictures; Alexandre Mallet-Guy, President of Memento Films; Michael J. Werner, Managing Director & Chairman of Fortissimo Films; and first-time representatives from Netflix, AMC / Sundance Channel Global and the Sundance Institute.
Strong representation from programmers and directors of the world’s leading film festivals and institutes includes: Cph:dox Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival; Morelia Film Festival in Mexico & San Sebastian Film Festival, Spain; International Film Festival of Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Busan International Film Festival, South Korea; Latin Arab International Film Festival in Argentina; Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia; Tribeca Film Institute, USA; International Istanbul Film Festival; Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival; Berlinale Shorts at International Film Festival of Berlin; Sarajevo Film Festival; and the Dubai International Film Festival.
High profile regional distributors and international sales agents and distributors include representatives from Wild Bunch of France; Film Movement of USA; Memento Films, France; Tricon Films, Canada; Urban Distribution International of France; The Match Factory of Germany; Gulf Films of UAE; Mad Solutions, Egypt ; Front Row Filmed Entertainment, UAE; Moving Turtle, Lebanon and Mc Distribution, Lebanon.
International film funds and commissions represented at Qumra 2016 include: Idfa Bertha Fund of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam; the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival of Rotterdam; Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg; the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Berlin; The Royal Film Commission, Jordan; the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture; Screen Institute Beirut; the Netherlands Film Fund and Gulf funds Sanad Film Fund and Enjazz, UAE as well as regional financiers Image Nation and Mbc Group.
Qatar-based organizations are represented by Innovation Films and the Al Jazeera Media Training & Development Centre in Qatar along with 120 Qatar-based film, media and entertainment delegates who will also participate in the program, further building on the event’s aim to connect local, regional and international industry for the benefit of emerging talent.
Qumra has three main elements: Masterclasses by the Qumra Masters, which will be led this year by James Schamus (Us), Joshua Oppenheimer (Us), Naomi Kawase (Japan), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey) and Aleksandr Sokurov (Russia); industry meetings and screenings. All projects selected by the Doha Film Institute will benefit from the industry meetings with the experts to take their work to the next stage.
The screenings are in two categories: Master Screenings & New Voices in Cinema. The Masters Screenings this year include "The Look of Silence" (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Joshua Oppenheimer,Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan; "Russian Ark" (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Aleksandr Sokurov;"The Mourning Forest" (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Naomi Kawase; and " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee.
In the New Voices in Cinema segment, are: "The Palm Tree" (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi; "Mediterranea" (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano; "Roundabout in my Head" (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015), and "Waves 98" by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015).
All screenings will take place at the Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium and tickets are now on sale at www.dohafilminstitute.com...
A number of industry leaders who attended the inaugural edition last year have confirmed their participation for the second time alongside many new organizations represented for the first time at the annual gathering dedicated to supporting first- and second-time filmmakers on both a creative and practical level. The delegates come from as far afield as Argentina, Australia, India, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Egypt and the Us.
Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Qumra presents a very important component in nurturing a film industry in Qatar and the Arab world and the participation of international industry experts is integral to this initiative. I would like to thank each of these seasoned professionals for lending their expertise to benefit the participating projects and for being part of the unique creative network that we have cultivated through Qumra.”
She added: “We have seen many productive and tangible outcomes for the projects that were developed in the first edition of Qumra and I am confident that the connections made between emerging filmmakers and industry mentors in the coming week will contribute to the growth of a more robust regional film industry and benefit the participants far into the future.”
The Qumra industry program is centered around 33 projects from Qatar, the Arab region and the rest of the world at various stages of development. The industry sessions are presented in two strands: tutorials, workshops, consultations and one-on-one meetings for projects still in development; and a series of work-in-progress and ‘picture lock’ screenings and feedback sessions for projects in post production. I am proud to be a part of the tutorials and one-on-one sessions with the filmmakers working on short films.
Among the leading industry names to attend the event this year are: David Parfitt, Academy Award-winning producer, Chairman of Film London and ex-Chairman of BAFTA; Christophe Leparc, Managing Director, Programmer at Director’s Fortnight Cannes Film Festival and recently appointed Festival Director of Cinemed; Cameron Bailey, Festival Director, Toronto International Film Festival; Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of Festival Del Film Locarno; Vincenzo Bugno, Project Manager of Berlinale World Cinema Fund and member of the Berlinale Competition Selection Committee; Matthijs Wouter Knol, Director of the European Film Market at the Berlin International Film Festival; Remi Burah, Senior Executive Vice President, Arte France Cinéma; Cara Mertes, Director of the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms; Mike Goodridge, CEO of Protagonist Pictures; Alexandre Mallet-Guy, President of Memento Films; Michael J. Werner, Managing Director & Chairman of Fortissimo Films; and first-time representatives from Netflix, AMC / Sundance Channel Global and the Sundance Institute.
Strong representation from programmers and directors of the world’s leading film festivals and institutes includes: Cph:dox Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival; Morelia Film Festival in Mexico & San Sebastian Film Festival, Spain; International Film Festival of Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Busan International Film Festival, South Korea; Latin Arab International Film Festival in Argentina; Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia; Tribeca Film Institute, USA; International Istanbul Film Festival; Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival; Berlinale Shorts at International Film Festival of Berlin; Sarajevo Film Festival; and the Dubai International Film Festival.
High profile regional distributors and international sales agents and distributors include representatives from Wild Bunch of France; Film Movement of USA; Memento Films, France; Tricon Films, Canada; Urban Distribution International of France; The Match Factory of Germany; Gulf Films of UAE; Mad Solutions, Egypt ; Front Row Filmed Entertainment, UAE; Moving Turtle, Lebanon and Mc Distribution, Lebanon.
International film funds and commissions represented at Qumra 2016 include: Idfa Bertha Fund of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam; the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival of Rotterdam; Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg; the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Berlin; The Royal Film Commission, Jordan; the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture; Screen Institute Beirut; the Netherlands Film Fund and Gulf funds Sanad Film Fund and Enjazz, UAE as well as regional financiers Image Nation and Mbc Group.
Qatar-based organizations are represented by Innovation Films and the Al Jazeera Media Training & Development Centre in Qatar along with 120 Qatar-based film, media and entertainment delegates who will also participate in the program, further building on the event’s aim to connect local, regional and international industry for the benefit of emerging talent.
Qumra has three main elements: Masterclasses by the Qumra Masters, which will be led this year by James Schamus (Us), Joshua Oppenheimer (Us), Naomi Kawase (Japan), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey) and Aleksandr Sokurov (Russia); industry meetings and screenings. All projects selected by the Doha Film Institute will benefit from the industry meetings with the experts to take their work to the next stage.
The screenings are in two categories: Master Screenings & New Voices in Cinema. The Masters Screenings this year include "The Look of Silence" (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Joshua Oppenheimer,Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan; "Russian Ark" (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Aleksandr Sokurov;"The Mourning Forest" (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Naomi Kawase; and " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee.
In the New Voices in Cinema segment, are: "The Palm Tree" (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi; "Mediterranea" (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano; "Roundabout in my Head" (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015), and "Waves 98" by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015).
All screenings will take place at the Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium and tickets are now on sale at www.dohafilminstitute.com...
- 3/6/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Netflix, Sundance and Efm are among new delegates attending the second edition of the Dfi’s Qumra.
The Doha Film Institute today launched the second edition of Qumra, which is dedicated to supporting Dfi-backed first- and second-time filmmakers on both a creative and practical level.
Festival directors, producers, sales executives, fund managers, script consultants, distributors and other experts attend to meet with and mentor the new talents, discuss their forthcoming projects and see works in progress. This year’s emerging filmmakers represent 33 projects from 19 countries.
Returning industry delegates attending Qumra include Cameron Bailey from Toronto, Mirsad Purivatra from Sarajevo, Melbourne-based script consultant Claire Dobbs, Christophe Leparc of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Selim El Azar from Gulf Films, Gianluca Chakra of Front Row, Paul Baboudjian of Screen Institute Beirut, French producer Marie-Pierre Macia of Mpm Film, Frederic Corvez of Urban Distribution International, and representatives from Wild Bunch.
New delegates joining the second edition include Funa Maduka from Netflix, producer...
The Doha Film Institute today launched the second edition of Qumra, which is dedicated to supporting Dfi-backed first- and second-time filmmakers on both a creative and practical level.
Festival directors, producers, sales executives, fund managers, script consultants, distributors and other experts attend to meet with and mentor the new talents, discuss their forthcoming projects and see works in progress. This year’s emerging filmmakers represent 33 projects from 19 countries.
Returning industry delegates attending Qumra include Cameron Bailey from Toronto, Mirsad Purivatra from Sarajevo, Melbourne-based script consultant Claire Dobbs, Christophe Leparc of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Selim El Azar from Gulf Films, Gianluca Chakra of Front Row, Paul Baboudjian of Screen Institute Beirut, French producer Marie-Pierre Macia of Mpm Film, Frederic Corvez of Urban Distribution International, and representatives from Wild Bunch.
New delegates joining the second edition include Funa Maduka from Netflix, producer...
- 3/4/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The second edition of Qumra, March 4 - 9, the industry development event organized by the Doha Film Institute to nurture emerging voices in cinema with a focus on first and second-time filmmakers, will include as Masters, James Schamus and Joshua Oppenheimer along with Naomi Kawase, Aleksandr Sokurov and Nuri Bilge Ceylan participating in a series of master classes and one-on-one sessions with selected Qumra filmmakers and their projects along with screenings and Q&A sessions for Doha audiences throughout the week.
Read about previously announced Qumra Masters.
Held at the incredibly beautiful Museum of Islamic Art, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei, and a cultural partner of the Doha Film Institute, Qumra supports the development of emerging filmmakers from Qatar, the Arab region and around the world. Dfi has arranged a “rainbow of colors in a bouquet of participants and masters”. Elia Suleiman, Artistic Advisor for the Doha Film Institute says, “each master is very different and the event looks like an edition of poetry.”
Due to unforeseen circumstances, previously announced Qumra Master Lucrecia Martel is no longer able to participate this year.
Directors and producers attached to up to thirty three projects in development or post-production are invited to participate in Qumra, named from the Arabic term ‘qumra’ popularly said to be the origin of the word ‘camera’ and used by the scientist, astronomer and mathematician Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham, 965-c.1040 Ce), whose work in optics laid out the principles of the camera obscura.
Qumra includes a number of emerging filmmakers from Qatar, as well as recipients of funding from the Institute’s Grants Program. The robust program features industry meetings designed to assist with propelling projects to their next stages of development, master classes, work-in-progress screenings, matchmaking sessions and tailored workshops with industry experts. This creative exchange takes place alongside a program of public screenings curated with input from the Qumra Masters.
Especially appealing about this event, seen in light of mega-events as Berlin, Cannes, Tiff and Sundance is the intimacy of everyone sharing meals, attending the same party, staying at the same hotel within the famed souk and in walking distance to the museum. Only 150 people, all working hard and all meeting every day as they work with 23 features, 11 of which are in development and 12 in post whose program has been guided by Elia Suleiman and Qumra Deputy Director Hanaa Issa. The Qumra team will also help us navigate the souk to find the best bargains in spices like saffron and sumac and tumeric, textiles and other middle eastern treasures from the silk road!
Qumra has come a long way in one year; where last year there was only one documentary, this year there are eight documentary features – four in development and four works-in-progress - and four short documentaries in development. Five of them are Qatari, five are from the Mena region and two international. There are 23 features of which five are from Qatar and 10 shorts, all from Qatar. Each Master will meet with four to five filmmakers formally but the collaboration among mentors and emerging filmmakers will extend far beyond such formal meetings.
There are also three great moderators of panels: Richard Pena, the longtime chief for the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, Jean Michel Poignet and Paolo Bertolini of the Venice Film Festival.
Also included is a highly engaging selection of movies by the five Qumra Masters and from a selection of emerging talent during daily screenings and Q&A sessions. The selection includes Academy Award, Cannes Film Festival and Ajyal Youth Film Festival award winners.
Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said: “This year, the Qumra Screenings will showcase the work of five esteemed masters of cinema alongside some tremendously talented emerging filmmakers. By presenting these two spectrums of cinematic works, Qumra will offer audiences highly engaging film experiences that will present new insights into the language of cinema and the process behind the creation of compelling films. They will also be educational and inspirational, underlining our commitment to strengthening film culture in Qatar by promoting access to and appreciation of world cinema.”
The Masters screenings, accompanied by Q&A sessions with the visiting Qumra Masters linked to each film are “The Look of Silence” (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Qumra Master Joshua Oppenheimer, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Qumra Master Nuri Bilge Ceylan; “The Russian Ark” (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Qumra Master Aleksandr Sokurov; “The Mourning Forest” (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Qumra Master Naomi Kawase; and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee, co-written and produced by Lee’s longtime collaborator and Qumra Master, James Schamus.
The ‘New Voices in Cinema’ screenings include two feature films granted by the Doha Film Institute: “ Mediterranea” (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano being sold internationally by Ndm and Wme; “Roundabout in my Head”/ “Fi rassi roun-point” (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015); and two award-winning short films “Waves 98” by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015), winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and “The Palm Tree ” (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi, winner of the 2015 Ajyal Youth Film Festival Made in Qatar Award for Best Documentary.
“We are privileged to have James Schamus and Joshua Oppenheimer participate as Qumra Masters this year,” said Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi. “Both filmmakers, while very different in style, are truly ground-breaking in their fields and bring a wealth of experience to Qumra that will be invaluable for the young filmmakers participating.”
“We look forward to welcoming James and Joshua to the Gulf region for the first time and enabling our Qumra 2016 participants to establish a connection with these two leaders of independent filmmaking in the Us.”
Both Schamus and Oppenheimer were born in the Us and combine their acclaimed filmmaking careers with other roles within the industry: Schamus as a revered film historian and academic; and Oppenheimer as Artistic Director of the Centre for Documentary and Experimental Film at the University of Westminster in London.
Schamus, a multi award-winning screenwriter, director and leading Us indie producer, is best known for his long creative collaboration with Taiwanese director Ang Lee. He has worked with Lee on nine films, including “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, and remains the highest-grossing non-English-language film in the Us. He was the screenwriter for Lee's “The Ice Storm”, for which he won the award for Best Screenplay at the Festival de Cannes in 1997 and co-wrote “Eat Drink Man Woman” (1994), the first of Lee’s films to achieve both critical and commercial success.
As a producer, Schamus co-founded the Us powerhouse production company Good Machine in the early 1990s, and then from 2002 to 2014 was CEO of Focus Features, the motion picture production, financing and worldwide distribution company whose films during his tenure included Wes Anderson's “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Roman Polanski's “The Pianist “(2002), Henry Selick's Coraline (2009) and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (2003).
In 2014, Schamus turned his hand to directing with the short documentary “That Film About Money” (2014), and in 2016 made his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Philip Roth's “Indignation," which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 and is screening at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section.
Schamus is also Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory, and is the author of 'Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word', published by the University of Washington Press.
Elia Suleiman , the Artistic Advisor to Doha Film Institute, recalls how he and James grew up together in New York as long-time friends. James introduced him to the Chilean master filmmaker Raul Ruiz. Schamus helped him with his short film while at Good Machine. He helped edit the script and was his guardian angel helping with his first contract. They even had a code for “urgent”. When Elia was in Jerusalem and James in London they used the code whenever Elia was overwhelmed by the paperwork needed. James would answer within 15 minutes. Now James has come full circle on his own, from being one of the most important producers of the decade to directing his own film. When asked by Qumra what was most important, he said first time filmmakers were the most important. And he has always been able to spot the most talented of emerging filmmakers.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Joshua Oppenheimer’s debut feature-length film, “The Act of Killing” (2012) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, named Film of the Year by The Guardian and the Sight and Sound Film Poll, and won 72 international awards, including a European Film Award, a BAFTA, an Asia Pacific Screen Award, a Berlin International Film Festival Audience Award, and the Guardian Film Award for Best Film.
His second film, “The Look of Silence” (2014) had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it won five awards including the Grand Jury Prize, the Fipresci Prize and the Fedeora Prize. It was nominated for the 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Film, and has received 66 international awards, including an International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary, a Gotham Award for Best Documentary, and three Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.
Oppenheimer is a partner at the Final Cut for Real production company in Copenhagen, and Artistic Director of the Centre for Documentary and Experimental Film at the University of Westminster, London.
Many of the industry guests include returnees as well as the new guests which count Bero Beyer, Rotterdam; Tine Fisher, Cph Dox; Christophe Le Parc, Director’s Fortnight, Cannes; Vincenzo Bugno, World Cinema Fund, Berlinale; Cameron Bailey, Tiff and Carlo Chatrian, Locarno here for their second time; Sundance for its first year; Matthijs Wouter Knol, European Film Market; Mike Goodridge, Protagonist; Memento Films, Arte; Michael Werner, Fortissimo; Alaa Karkouti, Mad Solutions and Selim El Azar, Gulf Films.
Also attending for the first time will be Netflix who picked up “Under the Shadow” an elevated horror/ thriller partially funded by the Doha Film Institute, Film Movement and the Ford Foundation.
Previous Qumra Masters include Mexican actor, director and producer Gael Garcia Bernal (“Amores Perros”; “No”; “Deficit”), Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu - nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Academy Awards); Romanian auteur and Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”; “Beyond the Hills”); and Bosnian writer/director Danis Tanović (“An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”; “Tigers”, “No Man’s Land” - winner of Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001).
Read about previously announced Qumra Masters.
Held at the incredibly beautiful Museum of Islamic Art, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei, and a cultural partner of the Doha Film Institute, Qumra supports the development of emerging filmmakers from Qatar, the Arab region and around the world. Dfi has arranged a “rainbow of colors in a bouquet of participants and masters”. Elia Suleiman, Artistic Advisor for the Doha Film Institute says, “each master is very different and the event looks like an edition of poetry.”
Due to unforeseen circumstances, previously announced Qumra Master Lucrecia Martel is no longer able to participate this year.
Directors and producers attached to up to thirty three projects in development or post-production are invited to participate in Qumra, named from the Arabic term ‘qumra’ popularly said to be the origin of the word ‘camera’ and used by the scientist, astronomer and mathematician Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham, 965-c.1040 Ce), whose work in optics laid out the principles of the camera obscura.
Qumra includes a number of emerging filmmakers from Qatar, as well as recipients of funding from the Institute’s Grants Program. The robust program features industry meetings designed to assist with propelling projects to their next stages of development, master classes, work-in-progress screenings, matchmaking sessions and tailored workshops with industry experts. This creative exchange takes place alongside a program of public screenings curated with input from the Qumra Masters.
Especially appealing about this event, seen in light of mega-events as Berlin, Cannes, Tiff and Sundance is the intimacy of everyone sharing meals, attending the same party, staying at the same hotel within the famed souk and in walking distance to the museum. Only 150 people, all working hard and all meeting every day as they work with 23 features, 11 of which are in development and 12 in post whose program has been guided by Elia Suleiman and Qumra Deputy Director Hanaa Issa. The Qumra team will also help us navigate the souk to find the best bargains in spices like saffron and sumac and tumeric, textiles and other middle eastern treasures from the silk road!
Qumra has come a long way in one year; where last year there was only one documentary, this year there are eight documentary features – four in development and four works-in-progress - and four short documentaries in development. Five of them are Qatari, five are from the Mena region and two international. There are 23 features of which five are from Qatar and 10 shorts, all from Qatar. Each Master will meet with four to five filmmakers formally but the collaboration among mentors and emerging filmmakers will extend far beyond such formal meetings.
There are also three great moderators of panels: Richard Pena, the longtime chief for the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, Jean Michel Poignet and Paolo Bertolini of the Venice Film Festival.
Also included is a highly engaging selection of movies by the five Qumra Masters and from a selection of emerging talent during daily screenings and Q&A sessions. The selection includes Academy Award, Cannes Film Festival and Ajyal Youth Film Festival award winners.
Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said: “This year, the Qumra Screenings will showcase the work of five esteemed masters of cinema alongside some tremendously talented emerging filmmakers. By presenting these two spectrums of cinematic works, Qumra will offer audiences highly engaging film experiences that will present new insights into the language of cinema and the process behind the creation of compelling films. They will also be educational and inspirational, underlining our commitment to strengthening film culture in Qatar by promoting access to and appreciation of world cinema.”
The Masters screenings, accompanied by Q&A sessions with the visiting Qumra Masters linked to each film are “The Look of Silence” (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Qumra Master Joshua Oppenheimer, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Qumra Master Nuri Bilge Ceylan; “The Russian Ark” (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Qumra Master Aleksandr Sokurov; “The Mourning Forest” (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Qumra Master Naomi Kawase; and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee, co-written and produced by Lee’s longtime collaborator and Qumra Master, James Schamus.
The ‘New Voices in Cinema’ screenings include two feature films granted by the Doha Film Institute: “ Mediterranea” (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano being sold internationally by Ndm and Wme; “Roundabout in my Head”/ “Fi rassi roun-point” (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015); and two award-winning short films “Waves 98” by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015), winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and “The Palm Tree ” (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi, winner of the 2015 Ajyal Youth Film Festival Made in Qatar Award for Best Documentary.
“We are privileged to have James Schamus and Joshua Oppenheimer participate as Qumra Masters this year,” said Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi. “Both filmmakers, while very different in style, are truly ground-breaking in their fields and bring a wealth of experience to Qumra that will be invaluable for the young filmmakers participating.”
“We look forward to welcoming James and Joshua to the Gulf region for the first time and enabling our Qumra 2016 participants to establish a connection with these two leaders of independent filmmaking in the Us.”
Both Schamus and Oppenheimer were born in the Us and combine their acclaimed filmmaking careers with other roles within the industry: Schamus as a revered film historian and academic; and Oppenheimer as Artistic Director of the Centre for Documentary and Experimental Film at the University of Westminster in London.
Schamus, a multi award-winning screenwriter, director and leading Us indie producer, is best known for his long creative collaboration with Taiwanese director Ang Lee. He has worked with Lee on nine films, including “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, and remains the highest-grossing non-English-language film in the Us. He was the screenwriter for Lee's “The Ice Storm”, for which he won the award for Best Screenplay at the Festival de Cannes in 1997 and co-wrote “Eat Drink Man Woman” (1994), the first of Lee’s films to achieve both critical and commercial success.
As a producer, Schamus co-founded the Us powerhouse production company Good Machine in the early 1990s, and then from 2002 to 2014 was CEO of Focus Features, the motion picture production, financing and worldwide distribution company whose films during his tenure included Wes Anderson's “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Roman Polanski's “The Pianist “(2002), Henry Selick's Coraline (2009) and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (2003).
In 2014, Schamus turned his hand to directing with the short documentary “That Film About Money” (2014), and in 2016 made his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Philip Roth's “Indignation," which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 and is screening at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section.
Schamus is also Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory, and is the author of 'Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word', published by the University of Washington Press.
Elia Suleiman , the Artistic Advisor to Doha Film Institute, recalls how he and James grew up together in New York as long-time friends. James introduced him to the Chilean master filmmaker Raul Ruiz. Schamus helped him with his short film while at Good Machine. He helped edit the script and was his guardian angel helping with his first contract. They even had a code for “urgent”. When Elia was in Jerusalem and James in London they used the code whenever Elia was overwhelmed by the paperwork needed. James would answer within 15 minutes. Now James has come full circle on his own, from being one of the most important producers of the decade to directing his own film. When asked by Qumra what was most important, he said first time filmmakers were the most important. And he has always been able to spot the most talented of emerging filmmakers.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Joshua Oppenheimer’s debut feature-length film, “The Act of Killing” (2012) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, named Film of the Year by The Guardian and the Sight and Sound Film Poll, and won 72 international awards, including a European Film Award, a BAFTA, an Asia Pacific Screen Award, a Berlin International Film Festival Audience Award, and the Guardian Film Award for Best Film.
His second film, “The Look of Silence” (2014) had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it won five awards including the Grand Jury Prize, the Fipresci Prize and the Fedeora Prize. It was nominated for the 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Film, and has received 66 international awards, including an International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary, a Gotham Award for Best Documentary, and three Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.
Oppenheimer is a partner at the Final Cut for Real production company in Copenhagen, and Artistic Director of the Centre for Documentary and Experimental Film at the University of Westminster, London.
Many of the industry guests include returnees as well as the new guests which count Bero Beyer, Rotterdam; Tine Fisher, Cph Dox; Christophe Le Parc, Director’s Fortnight, Cannes; Vincenzo Bugno, World Cinema Fund, Berlinale; Cameron Bailey, Tiff and Carlo Chatrian, Locarno here for their second time; Sundance for its first year; Matthijs Wouter Knol, European Film Market; Mike Goodridge, Protagonist; Memento Films, Arte; Michael Werner, Fortissimo; Alaa Karkouti, Mad Solutions and Selim El Azar, Gulf Films.
Also attending for the first time will be Netflix who picked up “Under the Shadow” an elevated horror/ thriller partially funded by the Doha Film Institute, Film Movement and the Ford Foundation.
Previous Qumra Masters include Mexican actor, director and producer Gael Garcia Bernal (“Amores Perros”; “No”; “Deficit”), Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu - nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Academy Awards); Romanian auteur and Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”; “Beyond the Hills”); and Bosnian writer/director Danis Tanović (“An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”; “Tigers”, “No Man’s Land” - winner of Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001).
- 2/24/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Waves ’98 is the debut film from writer/director/animator Ely Dagher. The film is set in Beirut – Dagher’s hometown – and concerns a young man who becomes isolated from reality. Filmmaker spoke with Dagher about the film’s blend of video footage, still photography and animation. The Sundance Film Festival presented Waves ’98 in 2016 as part of its Animation Spotlight shorts program. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being […]...
- 2/1/2016
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Waves ’98 is the debut film from writer/director/animator Ely Dagher. The film is set in Beirut – Dagher’s hometown – and concerns a young man who becomes isolated from reality. Filmmaker spoke with Dagher about the film’s blend of video footage, still photography and animation. The Sundance Film Festival presented Waves ’98 in 2016 as part of its Animation Spotlight shorts program. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being […]...
- 2/1/2016
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Festival top brass on Tuesday announced the line-up of 72 short films that for the first time will encompass Midnight and New Frontier sections.
“Our longstanding showcase of short films has become a home for audiences who love watching these rowdy, sweet, scary and surprising stories,” said Sundance senior programmer Sundance Mike Plante.
“In recent years shorts have taken on a bigger presence within the film and media industries, helping more and more people feel the power and potential of these short-on-time, big-on-ideas films.”
Us Narrative Short Films selections include Bryce Dallas Howard’s Solemates, Sebastian Silva’s Dolfun and Kim Sherman’s Dogwalker.
Fyzal Boulifa’s Rate Me (UK), Don McKellar’s It’s Not You (Canada) and Ziya Demirel’s Tuesday (Turkey-France) screen in International Narrative Short Films.
Documentary Short Films include Jason Reitman’s Roast Battle (USA), Sol Friedman’s Bacon & God’s Wrath (Canada) and Verónica Jessamyn, López Sainz and...
“Our longstanding showcase of short films has become a home for audiences who love watching these rowdy, sweet, scary and surprising stories,” said Sundance senior programmer Sundance Mike Plante.
“In recent years shorts have taken on a bigger presence within the film and media industries, helping more and more people feel the power and potential of these short-on-time, big-on-ideas films.”
Us Narrative Short Films selections include Bryce Dallas Howard’s Solemates, Sebastian Silva’s Dolfun and Kim Sherman’s Dogwalker.
Fyzal Boulifa’s Rate Me (UK), Don McKellar’s It’s Not You (Canada) and Ziya Demirel’s Tuesday (Turkey-France) screen in International Narrative Short Films.
Documentary Short Films include Jason Reitman’s Roast Battle (USA), Sol Friedman’s Bacon & God’s Wrath (Canada) and Verónica Jessamyn, López Sainz and...
- 12/8/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Chicago – The 2015 awards ceremony at the 51st Chicago International Festival took place on Friday, October 23rd, and Andrew Davis – International Competition Jury President – announced that the French film “A Childhood” was the recipient of the prestigious Gold Hugo Award for the festival’s top film.
The evening was also highlighted by the Founder’s Award, given by festival originator Michael Kutza. Director Michael Moore accepted the award in person for his new and provocative documentary, “Where to Invade Next.” Moore gave an impassioned acceptance speech, amplifying his optimism in his new film, which pleads for social change in America.
Michael Moore Accepts The Founder’s Award
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
The awards event took place in the ballroom at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel, and was hosted by festival Managing Director Vivian Teng. Presenters included Programming Director Mimi Plauché, programmers Anthony Kaufman and Camille Lugan, plus various jury...
The evening was also highlighted by the Founder’s Award, given by festival originator Michael Kutza. Director Michael Moore accepted the award in person for his new and provocative documentary, “Where to Invade Next.” Moore gave an impassioned acceptance speech, amplifying his optimism in his new film, which pleads for social change in America.
Michael Moore Accepts The Founder’s Award
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com
The awards event took place in the ballroom at Chicago’s Peninsula Hotel, and was hosted by festival Managing Director Vivian Teng. Presenters included Programming Director Mimi Plauché, programmers Anthony Kaufman and Camille Lugan, plus various jury...
- 10/25/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The American Film Institute announced today the films that will screen in the World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs at AFI Fest 2015 presented by Audi.
AFI Fest will take place November 5 – 12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and events will be held at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, Dolby Theatre, the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, the El Capitan Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt.
World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award®consideration. This year’s Shorts jury features filmmaker Janicza Bravo,...
AFI Fest will take place November 5 – 12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and events will be held at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, Dolby Theatre, the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, the El Capitan Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt.
World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award®consideration. This year’s Shorts jury features filmmaker Janicza Bravo,...
- 10/22/2015
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Cruz Piñón The 12th edition of Curtocircuíto - Santiago de Compostela International Short Film Festival (the third consecutive year with director Pela del Álamo in charge) took place October from 6-11 in Galicia's capital in north-west Spain. Within Spain’s thriving short film scene Curtocircuíto stands out by offering thoughtfully curated collections of experimental and innovative shorts, with thematic connections providing a through-line within an impressively eclectic line-up.
This year alongside sections dedicated to Jørgen Leth and Aki Kaurismäki, and a range of parallel programmes and cultural events, the 40 films in the competitive programme - including 17 Spanish premieres - encompassed international titles already garlanded with critical recognition (for example, the animation section included World Of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt, 2015) and Waves '98 (Ely Dagher, 2015)) and the latest works by directors such as Ben Russell, Mark Rappaport, and local Lois Patiño.
Volontè Patiño is a key figure in the increasing...
This year alongside sections dedicated to Jørgen Leth and Aki Kaurismäki, and a range of parallel programmes and cultural events, the 40 films in the competitive programme - including 17 Spanish premieres - encompassed international titles already garlanded with critical recognition (for example, the animation section included World Of Tomorrow (Don Hertzfeldt, 2015) and Waves '98 (Ely Dagher, 2015)) and the latest works by directors such as Ben Russell, Mark Rappaport, and local Lois Patiño.
Volontè Patiño is a key figure in the increasing...
- 10/15/2015
- by Rebecca Naughten
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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