DOHA: Seven films on children will be shown at the upcoming fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF), the annual cultural celebration of Doha Film Institute (DFI), which will be held from November 17 to 24.
Spanning diverse narratives and genres, the films are powerful creative representations of how the most vulnerable segment of the society – the children – react to the events happening around them. Two films presenting this unique perspective are competing in the Festival’s Made in Qatar and Arab Film Competition segments.
Jan Xavier Pacle’s Angel in June, in ‘Made in Qatar,’ narrates the story of 13-year-old Angel, a kind and altruistic girl who busies herself with making the world a better place, despite developing symptoms of a terrible illness. The film is inspired by real-life events and takes place in the Filipino community in Doha.
Contesting in the Arab Film Competition’s Narrative segment is Playground Chronicles, by Brahim Fritah, following 10-year-old Brahim, who is increasingly aware of the complexities of the world around him. By setting the simple trials and jubilations of youth against a backdrop of social turmoil, the director imagines what childhood treasures Brahim will take with him into the future.
Four films are part of DTFF’s Contemporary World Cinema line-up. These include: Aida Begic’s Children of Sarajevo, narrating the story of how Rahima, a 23-year-old orphan, whose parents perished in wartime, struggles to keep her delinquent younger brother on the right side of the law; and Radu Jude’s Everybody in our Family, the latest offering from the powerhouse of contemporary Romanian cinema. Excellent camerawork and standout performances capture the absurd results of a darkly hilarious family get-together gone terribly wrong.
Dominga Sotomayor’s Thursday Till Sunday, narrates the story of 10-year-old Lucia, her parents, and brother and their holiday in the north of Chile, which results in broken familial bonds, ending in an emotional farewell and a family in crisis.
David Siegel and Scott McGehee’s What Maise Knew, is a contemporary interpretation of the Henry James novel, ‘What Maisie Knew,’ a critique of a self-involved divorced couple who thoughtlessly manipulate Maisie, their young daughter. The story, told entirely from the clever six-year-old’s point of view, sees Maisie coming to recognise who in her life really cares for her.
Another representation is Majid Majidi’s classic Children of Heaven part of the Special Screenings line-up, which tells the story of Ali and his family and their lives in an impoverished quarter of Tehran. When he accidentally loses his beloved younger sister’s only pair of shoes, the children must devise ways to hide the loss from their parents.
The Peninsula
