DFI appoints acclaimed filmmaker as artistic adviser

Doha Film Institute (DFI) has appointed renowned director, actor and writer Elia Suleiman to the post of artistic adviser.

“First and foremost, Elia’s bedrock credentials as a greatly admired director are invaluable to DFI in its mission to develop and support emerging filmmakers all over the world,” said Abdulaziz al-Khater, chief executive officer of DFI. “We know from his films that, along with his filmmaking precision, Elia has a playfulness about him, a keen sense of the absurd. I think his particular worldview and his unbounded passion for exciting new ideas will provide real inspiration. We will take his infectious energy out into the world as we seek out the best new filmmaking voices and nurture the work of the artistes we have already engaged with.” On his appointment, Suleiman said: “We can imagine, desire, love and daydream. What is imagined, yet invisible to others, has the potential to become visible and be shared. We must not wait. We must activate; we must participate. Take a leap. It is true that nothing is reassuring. But we will always have something to cling to; there is always hope. Hence, the proposition of a structure - a cinematic house of culture anchored to the principle of hope. I am convinced that the essence of this hope is to be found among the new generations of visual poets.”