'Be brave, rigorous and explore tensions within to find original cinematic voice'

The 10th edition of Qumra concluded with a masterclass by Qumra Master Atom Egoyan (Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Seven Veils) who urged emerging filmmakers to be brave, rigorous about production schedules, and explore the tensions within to find their original cinematic voice."Independent cinema gives you the freedom to explore, to choose what moments you shot are magical and gives you the gifts you weren’t expecting," said Egoyan, who noted that it was important to have a purpose of the frames one was composing and to discipline their schedules with carefully timetabled shots.The writer, director and producer, who has supported the journey of many first- and second-time filmmakers himself, has a distinguished oeuvre of films, many of them centred around the themes of identity, memory and trauma, inspired in part by his own Armenian roots and the Armenian Genocide.Egoyan said that as storytellers, what is most important is for filmmakers is "to make available genuine narratives to others and not be swayed by the narratives that have an agenda."We must find our natural voice and speak the truth because even neutrality has an agenda very often. Histories and stories are not communicated through slogans – but through one-on-one conversations between people."He said he is inspired to be in Doha and explore the architecture of the museums. "I have seen the Doha Film Institute label on many films that I have admired over the years, and being here, I understand why; DFI is such a remarkable organisation."