Filmmaker Hafiz Ali Ali, DFI Gulf Film Development manager Mahdi Ali Ali al-Sharshani and filmmakers Mohamed al-Mahmeed and Yousef al-Moadhadi at a DFI Suhoor on Sunday.
The Doha Film Institute has announced the four feature film grant recipients of the Qatari Film Fund.
They are Kakashi (directed by Yousef al-Moadhadi and written by Hind al-Ghawi), The DNA of Love (directed by Hafiz Ali Ali and written by Tom Abrams), Superpower (written and directed by Mohamed al-Mahmeed), and Little River (directed by Sheikha Shaikha al-Thani).
These feature films will join the recently announced line-up of nine short films set to receive support within the first cycle of the funding programme, created to develop up to four feature films, in addition to developing and producing up to eight short films every year.
Over the course of the programme, the DFI will work with the four filmmakers to develop and finalise their scripts; outline and implement budgets and production schedules; secure creative and technical teams; and provide mentorship opportunities with industry specialists. The fund’s structure allows for at least one of the four feature films in development to be selected for further production support in 2016.
Drawing inspiration from faith, family, cross-cultural friendship and self-discovery, the four feature films serve as a window into the creative aspirations of Qatar’s emerging filmmaking talent.
Fatma al-Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Our goal has always been to inspire, nurture, and empower a generation of storytellers who can champion the growth of our film industry into the global arena; and the line-up of the feature films selected for the Qatari Film Fund are a testament to this vision.”
Under the Qatari Film Fund, feature film treatments and screenplays at varying levels of progress are eligible for development funds up to QR182,500, which includes bespoke mentoring opportunities provided by the DFI through its international network of industry professionals.
Kakashi is about a Japanese man, who lives in a permanent state of panic and insecurity, and his fiancée Sayuri , who has moved to London and has become unsure of her desire to marry this nervous wreck. To get out of the situation, she tells him he must meet her in London. Kakashi, who is terrified of flying, has no choice but to undertake the mission or lose his true love. When a passport mix-up leaves him stranded in Qatar, Kakashi is plunged into a series of culture-clash adventures that draw him into Khaleeji society and transform him into the man he needs to be.
The DNA of Love depicts the search of a father and daughter for each other. After the death of his Qatari wife, a retired engineer decides to visit the US to find the daughter who has been lost to him since his first wife left Qatar 20 years earlier. Meanwhile, after the death of her American mother, Sofia travels to Doha to find answers to her mother’s secret past.
Superpower is the story of Jassim, a cancer-ridden Qatari teenager, and his sister Fatma. In order to fulfil Jassim’s wish to visit the tallest buildings in the world, they run away to Dubai, New York City, Tokyo, Shanghai and Makkah. Their parents join them in New York, which becomes a battleground for the whole family. As Jassim and Fatma continue their trip, they come to understand who they are, their faith and their dreams.
Little River, set in Makkah, is a tale of faith, betrayal and love. It examines the dynamics of family and society and the pain of remembrance, all rooted in the poetry of Jalal Ad-Din Rumi, thoughts from ‘Don Quixote’ and a well-known ayah from the Qur’an: “Verily with every difficulty there is relief”.
