Qumra
Projects at various stages of production have been selected to benefit from bespoke mentorship and business meetings with international experts. The primary motive of this international gathering of creative film professionals is to contribute to the development of emerging voices in cinema, with a special focus on first- and second-time filmmakers.
Development: Feature Documentary
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Chasing the Dazzling Light
Yaser Kassab
Yaser—and his father in Aleppo—decide to make a collaborative film that challenges the distance between them from Sweden to Syria. The film becomes a place for family members to meet.
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My Dream to Fly
Asmaa Gamal
An immersive portrait of a group of young people from the crowded slums of Cairo who escape their daily hardships on motorcycles by night.
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My Father Killed Bourguiba
Fatma Riaha
The coup of 1987 was not only a political event in Tunisia but also a personal family event that turned Fatma and her family's lives upside down.
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Those Who Watch Over
Karima Saïdi
Those Who Watch Over’ are Muslims, Jews, the Orthodox and marginalised people buried in their host country. Those who watch over are also their loved ones, who set up a new relationship with them here, in Brussels—in a unique cemetery, where care is taken to respect plurality for the dead and their living relatives.
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When the News Break You
Hamad Al Hajri
Conflict journalists fulfil an important civic function. In an era of increasing globalisation, they keep the world informed of war, revolutions, political unrest, natural and manmade disasters often far from our shores that now have the potential to affect us directly.
Development: Feature Narrative
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Al Baseer - The Blind Ferryman
Ali Al-Fatlawi
The blind ferryman Ayoub finds his way around the southern Iraqi marshes despite lacking eyesight, until one night he gets lost and meets a mysterious woman.
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Blacklight
Karim Bensalah
Algerian student in France, Sofiane is suddenly victim of an administrative decision and becomes illegal. In order to legalize his situation he finds a job in a muslim funeral home, a life changing experience...
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Khuzama
A.J. Al-Thani
Azzam, the young heir to the notorious Ibn Adwan bedouin tribe is discovered to be a woman the night before her wedding to Khuzama, sent by her mother to save her from the perilous, barbaric land of Remal.
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The Pearl
Noor Al-Nasr
A tech-obsessed Qatari boy who is detached from his family travels back in time to an era before his beloved technology existed, when pearl diving was the primary source of income.
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The Photographer
Anas Khalaf
A photographer working in a unique position at the heart of the Syrian government during the revolution in 2011 decides to defect, smuggling out with him the evidence he believes will bring down the regime of Bashar Al Assad.
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The Teacher
Farah Nabulsi
Palestinian school teacher Basem El-Saleh struggles to reconcile his risky commitment to political resistance with the chance of a new relationship with volunteer-worker Lisa and his emotional support for his most promising student Adam.
Picture Lock: Feature Documentary
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Green Line
Sylvie Ballyot
“One day, I broke my watch into small pieces to stop a militiaman from tearing it off me. Then, I gave up my life; that's how they failed to take it from it”. Today, Fida decides to meet those fighters who frightened her as a child.
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Khmerica
Antoine Guide
Sokha, a 36-year-old Khmerican returnee, embodies the narrative arc of the film. With him, we explore some pieces of his shattered personal history and dive into the meanders of his exile.
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Places Of The Soul
Hamida Issa
A Qatari woman travels on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope for a sustainable future before returning to Qatar in search of inspiration to make positive change.
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While We Watched
Vinay Shukla
This raw and timely film offers an intimate portrait of the frontlines of truth in India.
Picture Lock: Feature Narrative
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Autobiography
Makbul Mubarak
A timid housekeeper diligently obeys his master until a seemingly minor affront sets in motion a violent chain of events.
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Domingo and the Mist
Ariel Escalante Meza
Domingo’s house is due to be expropriated to make way for the construction of a highway. But his land hides a secret—the ghost of his deceased wife visits him within the mist. Domingo is sure he will never give up his land, even if that means resorting to violence.
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Mediterranean Fever
Maha Haj
An aspiring but depressed writer from Haifa befriends his new neighbour in an attempt to convince the man to help him commit suicide.
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The Dam
Ali Cherri
Every evening, Maher—a worker in a traditional brickyard by the Merowe Dam on the Nile—secretly builds a mysterious mud construction. 'The Dam' is a political fable about the power of imagination set against the backdrop of the Sudanese revolution.
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The Last Queen
Damien Ounouri
Algiers, at the beginning of the 16th century. After the death of her husband, a queen must stand up to the most fearsome pirate
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The Return
Meyar Al-Roumi
Taysir returns to Syria in order to move the remains of his younger brother Kamal from the suburbs of Damascus where he was shot as a freedom fighter during the revolution to the north of the country.
Work-in-Progress: Feature Documentary
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Concrete Land
Asmahan Bkerat
'Concrete Land' is an intimate look at the lives of a nomadic Bedouin family in its struggle to hold on to their traditional life under the pressures of urbanisation.
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Let’s Play Soldiers
Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Nasser is a child-soldier who tries to find his place in his community in Yemen, where the war forced him to become the guardian of his younger siblings' fate.
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Qatar Stars
Danielle Beverly
In Doha, a girls rhythmic gymnastics school led by a former Russian gymnast provides a space for empowerment and freedom.
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The Tokyo Reel
Mohanad Yaqubi
An open invitation to discover the restored digital scan of a lost 16 mm film reel found in the outskirts of Tokyo.
Work-in-Progress: Feature Narrative
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Backstage
Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane
Aida, member of a Tunisian contemporary dance troupe touring Morocco, provokes during a representation, her life and stage partner Hedi, who injures her onstage triggering a series of events through a long night across a forest, on the way to the next village’s doctor.
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The Wind Blew On
Katrín Ólafsdóttir
“Perhaps I’m already dead?” says a boy, to himself. But these words are spoken in an unsettling world where no one can confirm this to be true or false for him.
Development: TV & Web Series
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Day Off
Lina Lamara
It’s the weekend o’clock! Madani, Amina, Soukaina, Pierre, Atef, and Noor take us on their typical rest day. From Paris to Doha, via Casablanca, the day off is the one we prefer. Could it be longer?
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Out of My Mind
Mo Yusuf
A struggling Somali writer living in Dubai decides to become the stand-up comedian he always wanted to be.
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Traditional Qatari Songs
Aisha Al-Jaidah & Koloud Al Ali
A series of traditional Qatari children’s songs, contemporised for the kids of Qatar today.
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Under This Roof
Areej Mahmoud
A frail, yet strong willed, seventy year old woman tries to assassinate a presidential candidate and fails.
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Why Did the Bluesman Cross the Road
Meedo Taha
A pair of Latin-Arab mechanics and the boss’s daughter escape the garage in search of freedom, love, and music.
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Yasmine/Jasmine
Yossera Bouchtia
After the sudden and mysterious death of her mother, a grieving daughter starts to contend with haunting visitations from her doppelganger and is forced to confront a mysterious curse to reclaim a part of herself she never knew.
Development: Short Narrative
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Abu Fanoos
Amira Abujbara & Horia El Hadad
In 1980s Qatar, on a routine trip to the petrol station, a grandfather and grandson encounter a strange and eerie presence in the desert that will change their lives forever.
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I Wished for Solitude
Hamad Al-Fayhani
A mother grapples with the loss of her identity as she takes on the arduous job of caretaking for her ill son.
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Mercy
Abdulaziz Ameen
A woman finds herself in a moral struggle when a man asks her help with a difficult request.
Picture Lock: Short Narrative
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A Proposal
Nadia Al-Khater
A young Qatari man dreams of marrying his American fiancé. However, he must first face a panel who hold his fate in their hands.
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The Key
Rakan Mayasi
The sound of a key opening the Biton family’s door is haunting young Edina at night. But when all the family starts experiencing this nightmare, panic sets in. Will Dr. Naftali be able to explain this strange phenomenon?
Work-in-Progress: Short Narrative
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A Simple Cut
Maha Al-Jefairi
A young girl goes to ridiculous lengths to hide her haircut from her overbearing mother
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Kinship
Ali Al Hajri
When a shadow emerges with the birth of his newborn, Khalid must come face to face with his past.
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Manity
Hussen Ibraheem
On his first bird-hunting trip, a coming of age boy defies his oppressing father’s logic on the conception of manhood.
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The Swinging Chandelier
Karim Emara
After moving back into the old worn-out house he grew up in, Ameen, a newlywed Egyptian man, struggles to attend a crucial online job interview due to a visit from his needy in-laws.
