Doha: Qumra, a new event by Doha Film Institute (DFI), will today host public screenings of two films in the Modern Masters and New Voices in Cinema sections, highlighting its focus on promoting the appreciation of world cinema and shining the spotlight on new talents from the Arab world.
Special guest Gael Garcia Bernal will participate in a question-and-answer session.
A compelling reality drama, No (Chile, US, France, Mexico; Spanish; 2012) directed by Pablo Larrain, will be presented in the Modern Masters section featuring works of five Qumra Masters over the six-day programme.
Part of a trilogy by Larrain on Chile, the film is set in 1988 and outlines the audacious and risky plan by a young ad executive to undermine President Augusto Pinochet’s propaganda machine. Shot in 4:3 television ratio with a 1983 video camera, and incorporating archival news footage and original TV spots, No plunges into actual events with a realism and truthfulness rarely captured on screen. It will be shown at 7pm at Drama Theatre, Building No. 16 in Katara Village.
Supported by DFI through its grants, My Love Awaits Me by the Sea (Jordan, Germany, Palestine, Lebanon, Qatar; Arabic; 2013) will be screened in New Voices in Cinema section, at 7.30pm at Opera House, Building No. 16 in Katara Village.
Directed by Mais Darwazah, her first feature-length documentary, it had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. It is a voyage of discovery and reckoning that contemplates the meanings of belonging, nostalgia, affiliation and love.
It charts the first journey of Darwazah to her native Palestine to discover the life of Hasan Hourani, a poet and painter, who created a fantastical world in which he was a perpetual child, his freedom not limited by the occupation under which he grew up. Tickets cost QR35; students have a discounted price of QR25. They can be bought at Qumra Box Office at Building No. 16 at Katara Village or online at www.dohafilminstitute.com/qumra
Running until Wednesday, Qumra is hosting more than 100 leading film industry professionals for bespoke mentorship labs, master classes, meetings and film screenings, to nurture regional talent.
Twenty-nine projects in various stages of production have been chosen to take them to the next stage. The Peninsula
