Seventeen films made with the support of Doha Film Institute (DFI), including two co-financed projects and 15 recipients of the institute’s Grants Programme, are being showcased at the 12th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).
The festival begins today and continues until December 16.
Fatma al-Remaihi, CEO of DFI, said: “This year, we have the largest contingent of films supported by the institute screening at DIFF.”
Headlining the line-up are The Idol (Palestine, UK, Qatar, the Netherlands, 2015), directed by Hany Abu-Assad, which marked its Middle East premiere in Doha last week as the opening gala of the third Ajyal Youth Film Festival, and Bilal (the UAE, 2015), directed by Ayman Jamal and Khurram H Alavi, which also screened during Ajyal where its World Premiere was the closing night gala. Both films are co-financed by DFI.
The recipients of the institute’s Grants Programme include The Foreign Son (Algeria, France, Qatar) directed by Abdallah Badis, We Have Never Been Kids (Egypt, the UAE, Qatar) by Mahmood Soliman, Nawara – The Light Blue Satin Robe (Egypt, Qatar) by Hala Khalil and Samir in the Dust (Algeria, France, Qatar) by Mohamed Ouzine. All four films will have their World Premiere at DIFF 2015.
Mustang (Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar) by Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Degrade (Palestine, France, Qatar) directed by Arab Abunasser and Tarzan Abunasser are recipients of the institute’s Fall Grant 2014. Both are screening at DIFF 2015 following their World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival 2015.
A recipient of the Spring Grant 2015, 3000 Nights (Palestine, France, Jordan, Lebanon, the UAE, Qatar) by Mai Masri, Madame Courage (Algeria, France, Qatar), recipient of the Spring Grant 2015, by Merzak Allouache, and Go Home (Lebanon, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Qatar), directed by Jihane Chouaib and recipient of the institute’s Fall Grant 2011, are the other feature narratives in the line-up.
The short films granted by DFI that are having their World Premiere at DIFF 2015 include In the Future, They Ate from the Finest Porcelain (Palestine, UK, Qatar) by Larissa Sansour and The Boss (Iraq, the UAE, Qatar) by Rzgar Hussein.
Also screening are Waves ’98 (Lebanon, Qatar) by Ely Dagher, which won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival 2015, and ‘Mariam’ (Saudi Arabia, France, Qatar) by Faiza Ambah.
Two films supported by DFI have been shortlisted for the IWC Filmmaker Award from luxury Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen at DIFF 2015. Only three films vie for the cash prize of $100,000, which is presented to a feature-length fiction film.
The filmmakers are invited to DIFF’s Dubai Film Market to present their project. The two nominees supported by the institute are Sahaab (Qatar) by Khalifa Abdullah al-Muraikhi and Scales (Saudi Arabia, Qatar) by Shahad Ameen.