Projects at various stages of production have been selected to benefit from the experience of the Qumra Masters, as well as 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.

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Qumra 2020 Cancellation

Feature Narrative: Development

• 81’

  Dawood Al-Anwari and Ali Al Ansari

  
  

  Based on a true story, coach Evaristo guides the underdog Qatari youth team to a historical display at the 1981 FIFA Youth World Championships in Australia

  

• Arabnovela

  A.J. Al-Thani

  
  

  Set in Doha, Qatar in 1997, ‘Arabnovela’ is a satirical story about how society and family can crush dreams. A young woman named Noor dreams of becoming a khaleeji telenovela actress. She lives a double life as she juggles being an actress under the alias of Reem Ahmed and her actual job as a resident doctor from her family.

  

• Behind Closed Doors

  Hend Fakhroo

  
  

  Six-year-old Leila wakes up one day and finds her mother gone with only her father to take care of her. After months of trying, the small family finally settles into an emotional equilibrium, only to have their mother suddenly return.

  

• Beirut 1931

  Kamal Aljafari

  
  

  A man arrives in his native Jaffa after the sudden death of his uncle, who was kept in a mental hospital for over 25 years. Like a lurking shadow, the man would only occasionally visit his family back home—but this trip quickly leads him into an oscillation between the present crisis and memories from the last 70 years.

  

• Dowayha

  Mahdi Ali Ali

  
  

  A boy goes through a psychological change process to discover the reason for the divorce of his parents.

  

• Down and Out in Doha

  Waheed Khan and Fahad Al Kuwari

  
  

  A young, reckless Qatari man abandons his fortune in a challenge and learns that there is more to life than money.

  

• Nezouh

  Soudade Kaadan

  
  

  A bomb falls on Zeina’s house opening for her a window to a new life.

  

• Omar La Fraise

  Elias Belkedar

  
  

  Omar, a crook forced to be on the run in Algeria, needs to quiet down to avoid prison. Deprived of adrenalin, he swings between his urges and strikes his own balance.

  

• Queens

  Yasmine Benkiran

  
  

  To give her daughter a brighter future, 27-year-old Zineb escapes from prison and kidnaps her 9-year-old, Ines. On the road, she holds up a truck, taking the young Asma hostage and forcing her to drive them away from the police. From this road trip in a truck soon flourishes a deep friendship.

  

• Sabah

  Ben Robinson

  
  

  After a conservative Twitter campaign shuts down a high school play for its satirical content, a rebellious Qatari teenager directs her fellow drama students to broadcast their controversial performance live across social media.

  

• Vanishing

  Lucien Bourjeily

  
  

  Rita, a single mother, juggles her family and work with the crucial help of Zofan—a domestic worker, whose mysterious disappearance draws Rita into an investigative journey with unexpected consequences.

  

Feature Documentary: Development

• The Flower Men

  Yousra Ishaq

  
  

  In Yemen, a country shrouded in complexities, one ancient tribe is split between the borders of two bitter enemies at war with each other. Yet the divided tribe stands against both factions, refusing to be part of the war threatening their respective homelands. But what are their motives, and are they really as united as they let on?

  

• Kashkash

  Lea Najjar

  
  

  In a region torn apart by conflicting traditions, rapid modernization, recurring wars, forced migration, and a myriad of political struggles, we have discovered an unusual link—the age-old Kash-Hamam game of the Levant. As a pastime, vocation, heritage, or addiction, the game spans a unique apolitical network from Syria to Lebanon, connecting people of all religious sects and political views.

  

• Machtat

  Sonia Ben Slama

  
  

  A chronicle of Fatma and her daughters Najeh and Waffeh—"machtat" wedding musicians in the small Tunisian city of Mahdia, who escape the hardship of their daily lives through performance.

  

• Searching for Kikhia

  Jihan Kikhia

  
  

  A daughter unravels the disappearance of her father, the peaceful opposition leader to Qaddafi, and pieces together her mother's 19-year search to find him.

  

TV Series: Development

• Al Zubara

  Hamad Al Mansouri

  
  

  A futuristic take on Qatar, where Jassim Mohammed sets out to avenge his brother’s murder.

  

• Faraya

  Nadim Tabet and Mounia Akl

  
  

  When the lifeless body of an Ethiopian housemaid is discovered in the luxurious Lebanese ski resort of Faraya—Said, a local policeman decides to conduct his investigation against all the odds. Will he be able to pursue his quest for truth until the end, at the risk of disrupting the entire community?

  

• Heim

  Liwaa Yazji and Mohammad Abou Laban

  
  

  You can never escape a war. You take it with you wherever you go. All it takes is a handful of secrets and a terrible murder for old scars to turn into fresh wounds, and what at first appears to be Islamist terrorism turns out to be very much worse.

  

• The Life of Abdulla

  Abdulla Al Abdulla

  
  

  Follow Abdulla Al Abdulla and his social media influencer friends through every dramatic and exclusive moment as he strives to develop a high-end fragrance line worth of securing shelf space among the best boutique brands in the world.

  

• Meskoun

  Hicham Lasri

  
  

  Lotfi loses his fiancée and his mind. Deciding to emigrate illegally, he ends up drowning with seven other strangers. A month later, he reappears, buoyed by the souls of the seven drowned people who are now living within him.

  

• The Source

  Erige Sehiri

  
  

  Five childhood friends from Tunisia’s Thala high school, come together to investigate the mysterious death of Hicham, an older student. In tracing his footsteps over the months before he disappears, the group members leave behind their adolescence and end up on the frontline of the Arab Spring.

  

Feature Narrative: Work-in-Progress

• Honey Cigar

  Kamir Aïnouz

  
  

  The coming-of-age story of a teenage Algerian girl born and raised in France⁠—set against the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria in the 1990s.

  

• The Maiden’s Pond

  Bassem Breche

  
  

  In a small Lebanese town, a mother struggles to lend support to her estranged and newly-divorced daughter, as both women come to terms with their unresolved wounds.

  

Feature Documentary: Work-in-Progress

• The Earth Doesn’t Move

  Yosr Gasmi and Mauro Mazzocchi

  
  

  In a reception centre for asylum seekers in Italy, we follow the destiny of three protagonists—Laly a 43-year-old from Senegal, Abderrahman a Libyan poet, and Demba a Gambian aspirant actor and director.

  

• The Labudovic Reels

  Mila Turajlić

  
  

  Stevan Labudovic, the cameraman of Yugoslav President Tito, takes us on an archival road trip through the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement. Revealing his role in filming the Algerian revolution, he plunges us into the heart of an epic battle of images in which cinema gave voice to a decolonising world.

  

Web Series: Work-in-Progress

• The Closet Sessions

  Ahmad Satti

  
  

  A music web series that documents and showcasesthe diversity of the music scene in Jordan and the Arab region.

  

Feature Narrative: Picture Lock

• Liborio

  Fernando Martinez Sosa

  
  

  Liborio is a Dominican peasant who disappears in a hurricane and returns as a prophet, understanding that the best way to help the people is to keep them together. He cures the sick and offers food for the body and soul. His community grows until something changes—the country is invaded by the US Marines.

  

• Noche De Fuego

  Tatian Huezo

  
  

  Life in a war-torn town, seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence.

  

• Streams

  Mehdi Hmili

  
  

  Amel is released from prison after an illicit affair. In the lower depths of Tunis, she looks for her missing son Moumen. During her journey, Amel faces a Tunisian society in almost total collapse.

  

• The Translator

  Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf

  
  

  As the Syrian Revolution begins, a political refugee returns illegally to Syria and risks everything to free his brother from the Assad regime

  

• The Winter Within

  Aamir Bashir

  
  

  Nargis finds herself at the crossroads of a new beginning with Yaseen. Just then, her husband returns.

  

Feature Documentary: Picture Lock

• After A Revolution

  Giovanni Buccomino

  
  

  ‘After A Revolution’ was filmed over six years, and tells the intimate story of a brother and sister who struggle to rebuild their lives after fighting on opposite sides of the Libyan revolution.

  

• School of Hope

  Mohamed El Aboudi

  
  

  ‘School of Hope’ tells the story of a nomad tribe struggling to get education for their children, and a young teacher trying to help them while suffering himself under the government’s indifference toward rural regions.

  

• Their Algeria

  Lina Soualem

  
  

  The longstanding journey of the exile of my grandparents Aïcha and Mabrouk. A couple of Algerian immigrants living in France for sixty years, whose lives were a succession of separations and silences.

  

• Wake Up on Mars

  Dea Gjinovci

  
  

  A 10-year-old Roma boy living in Sweden struggles to come to terms with the mysterious Resignation Syndrome that has put his two sisters into comas. The tight-knit family is trying to rebuild a normal life far from their native Kosovo, where they were victims of persecution. While their entire future hangs in the balance of a pending asylum request, the little boy dreams of building a spaceship to leave it all behind.

  

Short Narrative: Work-in-Progress

• Al-Sit

  Suzannah Mirghani

  
  

  In a Sudanese cotton-farming village, 15-year-old Nafisa’s parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. However, before any wedding can take place, Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, must first give her blessing. But will Nafisa ever be able to make her own choices?

  

• J’ai Le Cafard

  Maysaa Al Mumin

  
  

  A woman in her forties struggles to make sense of her downhearted mood until she encounters a cockroach in the office toilets.

  

• Olayan

  Khalifa Al Marri

  
  

  Hamad is a 6-year-old boy who lives with his parents and their camels in the desert. When one of their camels gives birth to a baby calf, Hamad’s reclusive life changes and the two become fast friends. When his father decides to sell the calf in the market, Hamad goes to extreme lengths to free his friend and bring him back home.

  

• Under Her Skin

  Meriem Mesraoua

  
  

  Oran, Algeria. When her mother forbids her from biting her nails, Sarah must now abide by rules she does not fully understand. By regaining control over her actions and projected image, Sarah slowly redefines her attitude towards herself and others.

  

Short Documentary: Picture Lock

• And Then They Burn the Sea

  Majid Al-Remaihi

  
  

  ‘And Then They Burn the Sea’ is a film-poem that reflects on the memories of a mother whose dementia alienated her.

  

• Ander

  Alina Mustafina

  
  

  A short documentary about the world of an energetic five-year-old-boy who, despite his asthma and a very severe rare dairy allergy that isolates him from other kids during mealtime, simply enjoys his childhood.

  

• Emily

  Anna Prokou

  
  

  Most people keep their trauma locked up inside, but for Emily, a Filipina singer in Doha, opening her “box of trauma” and confronting a painful past is her only chance to break free.

  

• Ghareeb (Stranger)

  Yasser Mustafa and Christophe Buffet

  
  

  The security guard of an abandoned elementary school explores remains of the neighbourhood's past residents, weaving their mysteries into his own narrative.

  

• Ode to Loneliness

  Rawane Nassif

  
  

  A woman lives alone in a cubical hotel room with a view to the city. She films herself, the city, and her dreams for a month.

  

• Woman of Steel (Okht Rjal)

  Obada Yousef Jarbi

  
  

  In a broken welfare system, a mother takes to the streets to collect and sell scrap metal to provide for her family.

  

• Under the Lemon Tree

  Noor Alasswad

  
  

  An exiled Palestinian woman partakes in a humble fireside repast under a lemon tree that takes her backwards through the decades to her homeland.

  

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