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Doha Film Institute’s Qumra Workshop to Preview Timely Arab Films, Including Several Palestinian Projects, With Mentorship From Walter Salles, Johnnie To, Lav Diaz
The Doha Film Institute unique Qumra workshop is set to kick off with a fresh batch of timely Arab projects.
The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra workshop kicks off Friday with the cream of the Arab cinema crop on display – including several timely Palestinian projects – and a host of top industry professionals expected to make the trek to the Qatari capital. Standout titles set to be unveiled in Doha – which played a key role in mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel – comprise sci-fi thriller “In Memory of Times to Come” (see concept still above), a first feature from Danish-Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, who represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Visual Arts Biennale. Arabic features on display that are in the picture-lock phase – and are therefore likely to soon surface on the festival circuit – comprise Sudanese-Russian filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani’s “Cotton Queen,” about a teenage girl who finds herself at the center of a power struggle to determine the village’s future when a young businessman from abroad wants to marry her; French-Tunisian filmmaker and Rawiyat: Sisters in Film co-founder Erige Sehiri’s “Marie & Jolie,” which highlights the lives of three Ivorian women in Tunisia from different generations who live together in a house that doubles as a church; and NYU professor Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake,” about a 9-year-old girl who is forced to bake a cake for Saddam Hussein’s birthday.
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