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DOHA FILM INSTITUTE TO FUND 21 PROJECTS FROM 24 COUNTRIES
Screen Daily
Feb 4 2015
4 February, 2015 | By Michael Rosser
Filmmakers from 24 countries, including the US and Italy, to receive
funding
The Doha Film Institute has announced recipients of the autumn 2014
session of its grants programme. The announcement has come just ahead
of the Berlinale (Feb 5-15) where four of the Institute's previous
grantees will be presented, including three world premieres.
Some 21 projects from 24 countries - comprising nine narrative
feature films, eight feature documentaries and four short films -
will receive funding for development, production or post-production.
It marks the ninth session of the grants programme, which supports
new cinematic talent, with a focus on first and second-time filmmakers.
A total of 11 of the projects are from the Middle East North Africa
(MENA) region; eight are from the OECD's Development Assistance
Committee list of countries (DAC); and two are from the rest of
the world.
For the first time, filmmakers from Italy, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nepal,
The Philippines and US will receive grants.
Among the 21 projects selected for funding, three films are from
Tunisia:
Walid Mattar's narrative feature Northern Wind, an exploration of
friendship between two men whose lives cross paths due to a factory
relocation;
Claire Belhassine's feature documentary The Man Behind The Microphone,
about Hedi Jouini who is known as the 'Frank Sinatra of Tunisia';
and second-time grantee Kaouther Ben Hania's documentary Zaineb Hates
the Snow, a family portrait about a young girl who is relocated to
Canada following the death of her father.
Two projects from Qatar-based filmmakers were awarded grants:
Nora Al Subai's Opening Doors, the true story of Amna Mahmoud, a
Qatari teacher who opened the first school for girls in Qatar in 1957;
and Karem Kamel's Light Sounds, about an unlikely duo of Sri-Lankan
immigrants who work as cleaners in a washroom neighbouring a mosque.
MENA conflicts on film
Several projects with perspectives on the conflicts in the MENA region
are among the grantees.
Degrade is the debut feature from twin brothers Arab & Tarzan Abunasser
about 12 women stuck in a Gaza hair salon for an entire afternoon,
as they witness a violent confrontation taking place across the street.
In the Future, They Ate from the Finest Porcelain by Larissa Sansour
is an experimental short about Palestine which examines the role of
myth in history and national identity.
To All Naked Men by Bassam Chekhes is a narrative drama set in the
aftermath of the Syrian war.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said that latest
group of grantees "represent some powerful new voices in cinema".
Women directors
"The cultural diversity among the projects is very inspiring, as is
the fact that once again, we are seeing so many strong female-driven
projects," added Al Remaihi, as 12 of the the 21 funded projects are
directed by women.
These include:
Deniz Erguven's Mustang, a Turkish project about five girls who grow
out of childhood in a family obsessed with their virtue;
Anahita Ghazvinizadeh's They, about the transition from childhood
to adulthood and the open-ended questions of identity faced by the
young protagonist;
Nour Wazzi's family drama, The Trophy;
and Scales by Saudi Arabian director, Shahad Ameen, which blends
fantasy and reality in a tale of a 13 year-old girl fighting against
her imminent fate of becoming a mermaid.
Documentary
Female-driven projects are also strongly represented in the documentary
category where seven of the nine grantees are women. They include:
Marie-Clemence Andriamonta Paes's 'Madagascar 1947, The Sound Of
Silence', about the largely unknown post-WWII rebellion by Malagasy
war veterans which was harshly suppressed by the French colonial
authorities;
Jewel Maranan's 'Tondo, Beloved' about the effects of poverty as
people are caught up in the path of Manila's port expansion;
and Maryam Ebrahimi's 'The Confiscated Images', about Iranian Gulf
war photographer, Saeed Sadeghi, whose images were used to propel
the myth of the Holy War.
Tamara Stepanyan has received a grant for the third time, making her
the first third-time grantee of the programme. Her feature documentary,
Limbo, explores the experience of Armenian asylum seekers.
Berlin titles
Four of the Institute's grantee alumni are screening at the 65th
Berlin International Film Festival which opens on Thursday (Feb 5).
Two documentaries will make their world premiere in The Forum section
- David Yon's 'The Night and The Kid' (Fall 2012 grantee) and Michel
Zongo's 'The Siren of Faso Fani' (Fall 2013 grantee).
Also in the Forum section is Ghassan Salhab's 'The Valley' (Fall
2012 grantee) which had its world premiere at Toronto 2014, while
'Out on the Streets' (Spring 2013 grantee) by Jasmina Metwaly and
Philip Rizk will have its world premiere in Forum Expanded.
Submissions for the current grants session are now open and will
close on February 15.
The fund is available to projects by filmmakers from around the world
with an emphasis on supporting filmmakers from the MENA region with
certain categories of funding reserved for MENA and Qatari filmmakers.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers with
the exception of the category of post-production which, as of the
11th session, will be newly open to established filmmakers from the
MENA region.
For more information about eligibility and submission process
visit:http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants
DFI grantees Fall 2014 session
[parts omitted]
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - DEVELOPMENT
Limbo by Tamara Stepanyan (Lebanon, Armenia, France, Qatar)
Marseille, 2014. Dozens of Armenian asylum seekers are trying to
survive while waiting for their applications to be considered. They
live in an indeterminate space, wandering in limbo.
For full list of grantees, go to
http://www.screendaily.com/news/doha-film-institute-to-fund-21-projects/5082630.article
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Screen Daily
Feb 4 2015
4 February, 2015 | By Michael Rosser
Filmmakers from 24 countries, including the US and Italy, to receive
funding
The Doha Film Institute has announced recipients of the autumn 2014
session of its grants programme. The announcement has come just ahead
of the Berlinale (Feb 5-15) where four of the Institute's previous
grantees will be presented, including three world premieres.
Some 21 projects from 24 countries - comprising nine narrative
feature films, eight feature documentaries and four short films -
will receive funding for development, production or post-production.
It marks the ninth session of the grants programme, which supports
new cinematic talent, with a focus on first and second-time filmmakers.
A total of 11 of the projects are from the Middle East North Africa
(MENA) region; eight are from the OECD's Development Assistance
Committee list of countries (DAC); and two are from the rest of
the world.
For the first time, filmmakers from Italy, Madagascar, Myanmar, Nepal,
The Philippines and US will receive grants.
Among the 21 projects selected for funding, three films are from
Tunisia:
Walid Mattar's narrative feature Northern Wind, an exploration of
friendship between two men whose lives cross paths due to a factory
relocation;
Claire Belhassine's feature documentary The Man Behind The Microphone,
about Hedi Jouini who is known as the 'Frank Sinatra of Tunisia';
and second-time grantee Kaouther Ben Hania's documentary Zaineb Hates
the Snow, a family portrait about a young girl who is relocated to
Canada following the death of her father.
Two projects from Qatar-based filmmakers were awarded grants:
Nora Al Subai's Opening Doors, the true story of Amna Mahmoud, a
Qatari teacher who opened the first school for girls in Qatar in 1957;
and Karem Kamel's Light Sounds, about an unlikely duo of Sri-Lankan
immigrants who work as cleaners in a washroom neighbouring a mosque.
MENA conflicts on film
Several projects with perspectives on the conflicts in the MENA region
are among the grantees.
Degrade is the debut feature from twin brothers Arab & Tarzan Abunasser
about 12 women stuck in a Gaza hair salon for an entire afternoon,
as they witness a violent confrontation taking place across the street.
In the Future, They Ate from the Finest Porcelain by Larissa Sansour
is an experimental short about Palestine which examines the role of
myth in history and national identity.
To All Naked Men by Bassam Chekhes is a narrative drama set in the
aftermath of the Syrian war.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said that latest
group of grantees "represent some powerful new voices in cinema".
Women directors
"The cultural diversity among the projects is very inspiring, as is
the fact that once again, we are seeing so many strong female-driven
projects," added Al Remaihi, as 12 of the the 21 funded projects are
directed by women.
These include:
Deniz Erguven's Mustang, a Turkish project about five girls who grow
out of childhood in a family obsessed with their virtue;
Anahita Ghazvinizadeh's They, about the transition from childhood
to adulthood and the open-ended questions of identity faced by the
young protagonist;
Nour Wazzi's family drama, The Trophy;
and Scales by Saudi Arabian director, Shahad Ameen, which blends
fantasy and reality in a tale of a 13 year-old girl fighting against
her imminent fate of becoming a mermaid.
Documentary
Female-driven projects are also strongly represented in the documentary
category where seven of the nine grantees are women. They include:
Marie-Clemence Andriamonta Paes's 'Madagascar 1947, The Sound Of
Silence', about the largely unknown post-WWII rebellion by Malagasy
war veterans which was harshly suppressed by the French colonial
authorities;
Jewel Maranan's 'Tondo, Beloved' about the effects of poverty as
people are caught up in the path of Manila's port expansion;
and Maryam Ebrahimi's 'The Confiscated Images', about Iranian Gulf
war photographer, Saeed Sadeghi, whose images were used to propel
the myth of the Holy War.
Tamara Stepanyan has received a grant for the third time, making her
the first third-time grantee of the programme. Her feature documentary,
Limbo, explores the experience of Armenian asylum seekers.
Berlin titles
Four of the Institute's grantee alumni are screening at the 65th
Berlin International Film Festival which opens on Thursday (Feb 5).
Two documentaries will make their world premiere in The Forum section
- David Yon's 'The Night and The Kid' (Fall 2012 grantee) and Michel
Zongo's 'The Siren of Faso Fani' (Fall 2013 grantee).
Also in the Forum section is Ghassan Salhab's 'The Valley' (Fall
2012 grantee) which had its world premiere at Toronto 2014, while
'Out on the Streets' (Spring 2013 grantee) by Jasmina Metwaly and
Philip Rizk will have its world premiere in Forum Expanded.
Submissions for the current grants session are now open and will
close on February 15.
The fund is available to projects by filmmakers from around the world
with an emphasis on supporting filmmakers from the MENA region with
certain categories of funding reserved for MENA and Qatari filmmakers.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers with
the exception of the category of post-production which, as of the
11th session, will be newly open to established filmmakers from the
MENA region.
For more information about eligibility and submission process
visit:http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants
DFI grantees Fall 2014 session
[parts omitted]
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - DEVELOPMENT
Limbo by Tamara Stepanyan (Lebanon, Armenia, France, Qatar)
Marseille, 2014. Dozens of Armenian asylum seekers are trying to
survive while waiting for their applications to be considered. They
live in an indeterminate space, wandering in limbo.
For full list of grantees, go to
http://www.screendaily.com/news/doha-film-institute-to-fund-21-projects/5082630.article
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress