On the back of successful themed film series such as ‘Masters of Illusion’, ‘Science Fiction in Film — Spaceships in Cinema’ and ‘Fashion in Film: Costume as Character’, the Doha Film Institute Cinema (DFI Cinema) is set to roll out its new and multi-layered thematic series ‘A Symphony of Films’ this week, starting Thursday.
As the DFI joins forces with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) for the series that combines the thrill of film screenings and the joy of live music concerts, Community gives you an overview of the films in store for you. To be held from September 22 to 26, at Katara Drama Theatre and Opera House, the series packs in a couple of spectacular treats for audiences such as German director FW Murnau’s expressionist horror film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922/German) with live accompaniment of the original score performed by the QPO.
Here are the films that will be screened as part of the series — tickets are available on the DFI website; the QR100 ticket package grants buyer one ticket to each of the screenings and master-class taking place at the Katara Drama Theatre.
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror — One of the most famous silent movies of all time, F.W. Murnau’s classic silent version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula will be screened with live accompaniment by the QPO. Critics say that Nosferatu’s eerie, gothic feel, and a chilling performance from Max Schreck as the vampire, set the template for the horror films that followed. Thursday, 7:30pm.
Caramel — Lebanese director-actor Nadine Labaki’s internationally acclaimed debut feature, Caramel was instantly hailed on its release for depicting a contemporary Beirut that had seldom been seen on the big screen — not a tense, ravaged metropolis torn to shreds by a lengthy civil war, but rather one where citizens face mundane problems (like being stopped by the police for not wearing a seatbelt), alongside life’s rather larger issues. Labaki herself plays Layale, one of three women working in a hectic beauty salon, all of whom are gamely dealing with some kind of trouble in the realm of love. Thursday, 9:30pm.
North by Northwest — To follow up his dark and brooding Vertigo (1958), Alfred Hitchcock delivered the rather more light-hearted North by Northwest, a romantic thriller centred on a case of mistaken identity. The film provides plenty of room for Cary Grant to showcase his particular brand of comic debonair as he suavely sidesteps one life-threatening situation after the next, all the while smitten by a smouldering Eva Marie Saint. Featuring some of the most iconic sequences in Hitchcock’s oeuvre — the crop-duster and Mount Rushmore scenes, for instance — in many ways, North by Northwest is the master of suspense at his very best. Friday, 4:30pm.
Landscape in the Mist — Young Voula and her five-year-old brother Alexandros board a train from Athens bound for Germany, in search of their father, whom they have never met. Over the course of this coming-of-age road trip through Greece, the two determined youngsters will learn several of life’s lessons — some of them rather harsher than others. In Landscape in the Mist, Greek director Theo Anglelopoulos presents us with a contemporary world where, as the film’s title suggests, what is important has somehow been obscured. Friday, 8pm.
Brave (3D) — Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse. Saturday, 2pm.
Ran — In a decades-long career marked by a series of celebrated epic films, Ran is generally considered to be director Akira Kurosawa’s crowning. Vast in scope and profound in its consideration of greed, chaos and human folly — unsurprising, given that the screenplay is broadly inspired by ‘King Lear’, William Shakespeare’s master tragedy — Ran is the story of the tyrant warlord Hidetora and the deterioration of his kingdom after he decides to hand power over to his sons. Saturday, 8pm.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly — The Western was a genre in decline when Sergio Leone came along and gave it a shot of adrenaline in the mid-60s. In a few short years, the director singlehandedly established the Spaghetti Western, made several of the most highly regarded Western films in the history of cinema, and launched the film career of Hollywood superstar Clint Eastwood. The film’s final Mexican standoff is truly unforgettable, as much for its drawn-out, meticulously constructed take on the classic Western scene as for its soaring trumpet solo. Sunday, 8pm.


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