San Sebastian’s pix-in-post showcases have often launched standout movies, such as Sebastian Lelio’s “Gloria,” winner of the Films in Progress Award at the 2012 edition, plus notable directors, such as Jayro Bustamante, whose praised debut “Ixcanul” played at the festival in rough cut in 2015 before winning the Alfred Bauer prize for innovation at 2016’s Berlinale, breaking out handsome sales.
San Sebastian’s 2023 Co-Production Forum registers two trends: Films that are genre pics or enrol genre tropes or genre blend; an exploration of identity.
Thus year’s San Sebastian Wip Latam skews in another direction. “The films and stories are very grounded in reality, either by there hybrid formal move between fiction and non-fiction, their singular take on daily matters or the very social issues they address,” Javier Martín, San Sebastian Latin American delegate, told LatAmCinema.com.
Yet genre surfaces in disparate ways: the mix of coming of age, apocalypse...
San Sebastian’s 2023 Co-Production Forum registers two trends: Films that are genre pics or enrol genre tropes or genre blend; an exploration of identity.
Thus year’s San Sebastian Wip Latam skews in another direction. “The films and stories are very grounded in reality, either by there hybrid formal move between fiction and non-fiction, their singular take on daily matters or the very social issues they address,” Javier Martín, San Sebastian Latin American delegate, told LatAmCinema.com.
Yet genre surfaces in disparate ways: the mix of coming of age, apocalypse...
- 9/23/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum and Wip Latam industry events are showcasing a wealth of new projects.
The Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum and Wip Latam industry events are showcasing a selection of upcoming projects from Latin America to potential international partners at San Sebastian this month. Regional trends and financing models will also be in the spotlight.
Fifteen titles are in the Forum - from 222 submissions - and six films will showing a first cut in the Wip section. Both sections will take place from September 25-27.
There is a strong showing from Argentina in the Forum, despite the country’s long-running instability,...
The Europe-Latin American Co-Production Forum and Wip Latam industry events are showcasing a selection of upcoming projects from Latin America to potential international partners at San Sebastian this month. Regional trends and financing models will also be in the spotlight.
Fifteen titles are in the Forum - from 222 submissions - and six films will showing a first cut in the Wip section. Both sections will take place from September 25-27.
There is a strong showing from Argentina in the Forum, despite the country’s long-running instability,...
- 9/22/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
The six projects are all Latin American Films in post-production.
Argentinian directors Lola Arias and Maximiliano Schonfeld will present their films as part of San Sebastian’s Wip Latam which supports six Latin American films in their post-production stages.
Arias presents her second feature Reas about former women and transgender prisoners who reconstruct their reality in the shape of a musical. The director’s debut feature Prisoner Of War screened at Jerusalem, SXSW, London, San Sebastian and Berlin Forum – picking up the Ciace award at the latter.
Schonfeld also returns to the festival, after premiering Jesus Lopez in Horizontes in...
Argentinian directors Lola Arias and Maximiliano Schonfeld will present their films as part of San Sebastian’s Wip Latam which supports six Latin American films in their post-production stages.
Arias presents her second feature Reas about former women and transgender prisoners who reconstruct their reality in the shape of a musical. The director’s debut feature Prisoner Of War screened at Jerusalem, SXSW, London, San Sebastian and Berlin Forum – picking up the Ciace award at the latter.
Schonfeld also returns to the festival, after premiering Jesus Lopez in Horizontes in...
- 8/10/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Sales talks to commence at EFM later this month.
Berlin-based sales company Pluto Film Distribution Network has acquired worldwide sales rights to Panamanian-Costa Rican director Kattia G. Zúñiga’s feature directorial debut Sister & Sister (Las Hijas), which gets its world premiere at SXSW next month.
Pluto Film will launch sales at EFM later this month on the story, which stars newcomers Ariana Chaves Gavilán and Cala Rossel Campos as sisters who travel from Costa Rica to Panama during the summer holidays in search of their absent father.
As the girls deal with tensions that arise between them, they find space to explore their desires,...
Berlin-based sales company Pluto Film Distribution Network has acquired worldwide sales rights to Panamanian-Costa Rican director Kattia G. Zúñiga’s feature directorial debut Sister & Sister (Las Hijas), which gets its world premiere at SXSW next month.
Pluto Film will launch sales at EFM later this month on the story, which stars newcomers Ariana Chaves Gavilán and Cala Rossel Campos as sisters who travel from Costa Rica to Panama during the summer holidays in search of their absent father.
As the girls deal with tensions that arise between them, they find space to explore their desires,...
- 2/1/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel (VdR), which revealed its industry program last week, has unveiled its full lineup as it prepares to welcome participants both in person and online. A total of 160 films will be screened throughout the fest, which runs from April 7 through to April 17 in half a dozen venues in and around the city of Nyon.
While the event is back in its physical form, organizers have learned from the past two editions and decided to keep a strong online presence. “We realized it’s a way of expanding the spectrum of people taking part. It’s not about replacing the theaters, but most of the films won’t be released so I feel it’s our job to go beyond and reach the people who cannot attend physically,” the festival’s artistic director Emilie Bujès told Variety.
A selection of around 50 films will be accessible...
While the event is back in its physical form, organizers have learned from the past two editions and decided to keep a strong online presence. “We realized it’s a way of expanding the spectrum of people taking part. It’s not about replacing the theaters, but most of the films won’t be released so I feel it’s our job to go beyond and reach the people who cannot attend physically,” the festival’s artistic director Emilie Bujès told Variety.
A selection of around 50 films will be accessible...
- 3/15/2022
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The Santa Barbara Film Festival on Thursday revealed the lineup for its 37th edition, which is set to run March 2-12 in-person in its customary spot in the heat of Oscar season.
The festival will kick off with The Phantom of the Open, the Sony Pictures Classics comedy directed by Craig Roberts and starring Mark Rylance in the true story of Maurice Fitcroft, who entered the 1976 British Open despite never having played a round of golf before. Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans also star in the BBC Films pic.
The documentary Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over is the closing-night film, with Warwick set to be in attendance.
Overall, the festival in the beach city just north of Los Angeles will present 48 world premieres and 95 U.S. premieres from 54 countries, with a lineup that features films from directors Neil Labute, Ramin Bahrani, François Ozon, Eva Husson and more.
Also...
The festival will kick off with The Phantom of the Open, the Sony Pictures Classics comedy directed by Craig Roberts and starring Mark Rylance in the true story of Maurice Fitcroft, who entered the 1976 British Open despite never having played a round of golf before. Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans also star in the BBC Films pic.
The documentary Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over is the closing-night film, with Warwick set to be in attendance.
Overall, the festival in the beach city just north of Los Angeles will present 48 world premieres and 95 U.S. premieres from 54 countries, with a lineup that features films from directors Neil Labute, Ramin Bahrani, François Ozon, Eva Husson and more.
Also...
- 2/10/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
German sales company Pluto Film is under new ownership following its sale by founders and former CEOs Heino Deckert and Torsten Frehse to Daniela and Benjamin Cölle.
Deckert and Frehse, who established the Berlin-based shingle in 2015, are stepping down to focus on the activities of their respective companies, the Leipzig-based production shingle Maja.de and Berlin film distributor Neue Visionen.
The new husband and wife team will head Pluto Film as co-CEOs, with Daniela Cölle also serving as head of acquisitions. Cölle has worked at the company since its launch, initially as festival manager.
“We are very thankful to Torsten and Heino for trusting in us as new owners and CEOs,” she said. “We believe in engaging global cinema by emerging talents, both arthouse and cross-over. We are devoted to bringing quality feature films to the international market and worldwide audiences.”
Benjamin Cölle previously worked as a creative producer and...
Deckert and Frehse, who established the Berlin-based shingle in 2015, are stepping down to focus on the activities of their respective companies, the Leipzig-based production shingle Maja.de and Berlin film distributor Neue Visionen.
The new husband and wife team will head Pluto Film as co-CEOs, with Daniela Cölle also serving as head of acquisitions. Cölle has worked at the company since its launch, initially as festival manager.
“We are very thankful to Torsten and Heino for trusting in us as new owners and CEOs,” she said. “We believe in engaging global cinema by emerging talents, both arthouse and cross-over. We are devoted to bringing quality feature films to the international market and worldwide audiences.”
Benjamin Cölle previously worked as a creative producer and...
- 1/26/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Ecuador’s Ana María Barragán (“Alba”), Brazil’s Joâo Paulo Miranda (“Memory House”) and Spain’s Meritxell Colell (“Facing the Wind”) will put awaited new feature film projects through San Sebastián’s Ikusmira Berriak, one of Spain’s foremost development labs.
Also selected for 2022’s edition are a second reputed Latin American auteur, Argentina’s Maximiliano Schonfield (“Jesús López”) as well as Spain’s Irati Gorostidi (“In the Rain”) and a second Catalan filmmaker, Jaume Claret (“Ella y jo”).
As part of an eight-week residency, Ikusmira Berriak’s six directors will attend a Tabakalera tutorial Artist’s Space over March 14-April 24, and then return for September’s San Sebastian Festival.
Arguably the strongest lineup in Ikusmira Berriak history, next year’s selection rolls of a powerful and still building film-tv ecosystem in San Sebastian.
In the case of Ikusmira Beriak, this brings together the San Sebastian Festival, the most important...
Also selected for 2022’s edition are a second reputed Latin American auteur, Argentina’s Maximiliano Schonfield (“Jesús López”) as well as Spain’s Irati Gorostidi (“In the Rain”) and a second Catalan filmmaker, Jaume Claret (“Ella y jo”).
As part of an eight-week residency, Ikusmira Berriak’s six directors will attend a Tabakalera tutorial Artist’s Space over March 14-April 24, and then return for September’s San Sebastian Festival.
Arguably the strongest lineup in Ikusmira Berriak history, next year’s selection rolls of a powerful and still building film-tv ecosystem in San Sebastian.
In the case of Ikusmira Beriak, this brings together the San Sebastian Festival, the most important...
- 12/13/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The world premiere of Jesús López will open the Horizontes Latinos section Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival The San Sebastian Film Festival has announced that 10 Latin American films will compete in its Horizontes Latinos section this year. The selection includes five films from the festival's Latin American work in progress (Wip) initiative.
The winner of last year's Wip Latam award Dusk Stone, directed by Iván Fund, will compete for the Horizontes Award following its screening in the Venice Festival’s Giornate degli Autori section.
Also in the line-up are three returning directors Paz Fábrega, Alonso Ruizpalacios and Lorenzo Vigas - who bring Aurora, A Cop Movie and The Box respectively.
Uruguayan film The Employer and the Employee, directed by Manuel Nieto Zas, winner of the Egeda Platino Industry Award for best Wip Latam 2020, will close the Horizontes selection.
The section will open with the world premiere of Jesús López,...
The winner of last year's Wip Latam award Dusk Stone, directed by Iván Fund, will compete for the Horizontes Award following its screening in the Venice Festival’s Giornate degli Autori section.
Also in the line-up are three returning directors Paz Fábrega, Alonso Ruizpalacios and Lorenzo Vigas - who bring Aurora, A Cop Movie and The Box respectively.
Uruguayan film The Employer and the Employee, directed by Manuel Nieto Zas, winner of the Egeda Platino Industry Award for best Wip Latam 2020, will close the Horizontes selection.
The section will open with the world premiere of Jesús López,...
- 8/4/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mexican virtual lab offers Usd 30,000 in cash prizes.
Spanish multiple Cannes award winner Olivier Laxe and Argentina’s Lisandro Alonso are among participants in the expanded third Mexican project lab Catapulta set to run as an entirely virtual event from March 24-27.
Scroll to bottom to see all lab participants
Laxe, whose Fire Will Come won the Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize in 2019 and followed a 2016 Critics’ Week grand prize for Mimosas and the 2010 Fipresci award for Directors’ Fortnight selection You Are All Captains, takes part in the new development programme.
His project After (France) follows a man and...
Spanish multiple Cannes award winner Olivier Laxe and Argentina’s Lisandro Alonso are among participants in the expanded third Mexican project lab Catapulta set to run as an entirely virtual event from March 24-27.
Scroll to bottom to see all lab participants
Laxe, whose Fire Will Come won the Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize in 2019 and followed a 2016 Critics’ Week grand prize for Mimosas and the 2010 Fipresci award for Directors’ Fortnight selection You Are All Captains, takes part in the new development programme.
His project After (France) follows a man and...
- 3/22/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Mexican virtual lab offers Usd 30,000 in cash prizes.
Spanish multiple Cannes award winner Olivier Laxe, US auteur Rick Alverson and Argentina’s Lisandro Alonso are among participants in the expanded third Mexican project lab Catapulta set to run as an entirely virtual event from March 24-27.
Scroll to bottom to see all lab participants
Laxe, whose Fire Will Come won the Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize in 2019 and followed a 2016 Critics’ Week grand prize for Mimosas and the 2010 Fipresci award for Directors’ Fortnight selection You Are All Captains, takes part in the new development programme.
His project After (France...
Spanish multiple Cannes award winner Olivier Laxe, US auteur Rick Alverson and Argentina’s Lisandro Alonso are among participants in the expanded third Mexican project lab Catapulta set to run as an entirely virtual event from March 24-27.
Scroll to bottom to see all lab participants
Laxe, whose Fire Will Come won the Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize in 2019 and followed a 2016 Critics’ Week grand prize for Mimosas and the 2010 Fipresci award for Directors’ Fortnight selection You Are All Captains, takes part in the new development programme.
His project After (France...
- 3/22/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The San Sebastian Festival’s new Works in Progress Latam program will unveil from Sept. 22 six film productions from Latin America to potential production partners and sales agents.
Examining such topics as militant activism, the relationship between leaders and followers, employers and employees, identity, devoutness and belief systems, this year’s projects reflect universal subject matter in films from Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Wip Latam, which runs Sept. 22-24, replaces San Sebastian’s Films in Progress event after its 18-year run.
This year’s works include “The Fossilized Remains,” Jerónimo Quevedo’s Argentine drama about young militants in Buenos Aires; Manuel Nieto’s “The Employer and the Employee,” an Uruguayan-Argentine-Brazilian-French co-production about the relationship between two young men, a boss and his worker, and the convoluted relationship of both with work, freedom and happiness; and “Boreal,” Federico Adorno’s Paraguayan-Mexican co-production about the followers of a Mennonite leader and...
Examining such topics as militant activism, the relationship between leaders and followers, employers and employees, identity, devoutness and belief systems, this year’s projects reflect universal subject matter in films from Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Wip Latam, which runs Sept. 22-24, replaces San Sebastian’s Films in Progress event after its 18-year run.
This year’s works include “The Fossilized Remains,” Jerónimo Quevedo’s Argentine drama about young militants in Buenos Aires; Manuel Nieto’s “The Employer and the Employee,” an Uruguayan-Argentine-Brazilian-French co-production about the relationship between two young men, a boss and his worker, and the convoluted relationship of both with work, freedom and happiness; and “Boreal,” Federico Adorno’s Paraguayan-Mexican co-production about the followers of a Mennonite leader and...
- 9/23/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
There will be some events on the ground in San Sebastian.
As the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival kicks off in Spain, the festival is ensuring its industry activities are available online to those international delegates who are not able to travel this year.
“It is very important to continue maintaining the industry activities. They have been a fundamental part of our festival for years now and also San Sebastian is a bridge between Latin America and Europe, which has to be preserved,” explained festival director Jose Luis Rebordinos.
The Industry Office, headed by Saioa Riba and Esperanza Luffiego, has...
As the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival kicks off in Spain, the festival is ensuring its industry activities are available online to those international delegates who are not able to travel this year.
“It is very important to continue maintaining the industry activities. They have been a fundamental part of our festival for years now and also San Sebastian is a bridge between Latin America and Europe, which has to be preserved,” explained festival director Jose Luis Rebordinos.
The Industry Office, headed by Saioa Riba and Esperanza Luffiego, has...
- 9/19/2020
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
There will be some events on the ground in San Sebastian.
As the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival kicks off in Spain, the festival is ensuring its industry activities are available online to those international delegates who are not able to travel this year.
“It is very important to continue maintaining the industry activities. They have been a fundamental part of our festival for years now and also San Sebastian is a bridge between Latin America and Europe, which has to be preserved,” explained festival director Jose Luis Rebordinos.
The Industry Office, headed by Saioa Riba and Esperanza Luffiego, has...
As the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival kicks off in Spain, the festival is ensuring its industry activities are available online to those international delegates who are not able to travel this year.
“It is very important to continue maintaining the industry activities. They have been a fundamental part of our festival for years now and also San Sebastian is a bridge between Latin America and Europe, which has to be preserved,” explained festival director Jose Luis Rebordinos.
The Industry Office, headed by Saioa Riba and Esperanza Luffiego, has...
- 9/19/2020
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
In today’s Global Bulletin, ITV’s “I’m a Celebrity…” relocates, San Sebastián announced WIPs, Mikkelsen is honored, My Entertainment hires, Banijay finishes German setup and Formula 1 gets an anniversary docuseries.
Relocation
ITV tentpole reality program “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!” will trade the jungles of down under for a rundown castle in the U.K. after Covid-19 travel restrictions have made producing the show in its traditional New South Wales home too challenging a prospect.
First launched in 2002, the series has become one of the most important in ITV’s catalog and this February received a three-season renewal. It boasts an average audience of more than 9 million viewers per season and dominates the social media landscape during and after broadcasts. It has spawned several local formats in other territories and an ITV2 spin-off, “I’m a Celebrity: Extra Camp,” which was dropped by the...
Relocation
ITV tentpole reality program “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!” will trade the jungles of down under for a rundown castle in the U.K. after Covid-19 travel restrictions have made producing the show in its traditional New South Wales home too challenging a prospect.
First launched in 2002, the series has become one of the most important in ITV’s catalog and this February received a three-season renewal. It boasts an average audience of more than 9 million viewers per season and dominates the social media landscape during and after broadcasts. It has spawned several local formats in other territories and an ITV2 spin-off, “I’m a Celebrity: Extra Camp,” which was dropped by the...
- 8/7/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Argentina’s Murillo Cine, whose credits take in Cannes sidebar entries “The Snatch Thief” and “Land of Ashes,” is dipping its toe into TV drama production with “Vertientes del Paraná,” a miniseries project exposing the social tragedy of femicide, from writer-director María Florencia Álvarez.
Álvarez turned heads with her 2013 feature debut, “Habi la Extranjera,” a Walter Sales, Hugo Sigman and Lita Stantic production, selected for Berlin’s Panorama and picked up by HBO.
The “Vertientes del Paraná” project will be pitched for the first time ever at the current edition of Los Cabos International Film Festival’s Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund sidebar.
The seven-episode TV drama is inspired by the novel “Chicas muertas,” written by Selva Almada, co-author of the script alongside Álvarez, Alejandro Millán Pastori and Maximiliano Schonfeld.
Set in Villa del Rosario, a 8,000-inhabitant town located on the Argentine coast, the story starts with a car crash, and a...
Álvarez turned heads with her 2013 feature debut, “Habi la Extranjera,” a Walter Sales, Hugo Sigman and Lita Stantic production, selected for Berlin’s Panorama and picked up by HBO.
The “Vertientes del Paraná” project will be pitched for the first time ever at the current edition of Los Cabos International Film Festival’s Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund sidebar.
The seven-episode TV drama is inspired by the novel “Chicas muertas,” written by Selva Almada, co-author of the script alongside Álvarez, Alejandro Millán Pastori and Maximiliano Schonfeld.
Set in Villa del Rosario, a 8,000-inhabitant town located on the Argentine coast, the story starts with a car crash, and a...
- 11/14/2019
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Collaboration with San Sebastian Film Festival to foster co-productions with Latin America.
Filmmakers let fly with their pitches on Tuesday (10) at the inaugural Proyecta session organised by Ventana Sur and San Sebastian Film Festival to foster co-productions with Latin America.
Among those under the spotlight are The Jungle, a Swiss project that director Matthias Huser explained was a 1970s-set family drama that morphs via a “feverish” storytelling tone into an experimental film.
The film centres on Sheila, who returns to her childhood home where her dying father tries to convince her to continue his life’s work and protect a patch of jungle.
Filmmakers let fly with their pitches on Tuesday (10) at the inaugural Proyecta session organised by Ventana Sur and San Sebastian Film Festival to foster co-productions with Latin America.
Among those under the spotlight are The Jungle, a Swiss project that director Matthias Huser explained was a 1970s-set family drama that morphs via a “feverish” storytelling tone into an experimental film.
The film centres on Sheila, who returns to her childhood home where her dying father tries to convince her to continue his life’s work and protect a patch of jungle.
- 12/11/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Madrid — Chilean Manuela Martelli’s “1976,” Argentine Maximiliano Schonfeld’s “Jesús Lopez” and Cuban Marcos Díaz Sosa’s “Obra de choque” have all made the cut of Proyecta, a movie project showcase which represents one of the major innovations at this year’s Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest film-tv market and co-production meet.
Though, two weeks and more out from Ventana Sur, buzz still has to build on many new projects in the section, there’s also a good word on Andrew Sala’s “La barbarie,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo’s “Supernova” and Colombian Jennifer Yuribe’s “Sandra” – and curiosity to learn more about Uruguayan Aparicio Garcia’s “Matufia” after his one-of-kind debut earlier this year, the grindhouse rural mobster comedy “La noche que no se repite.”
An initiative of Ventana Sur and the San Sebastian Festival, Proyecta sees four projects segueing from the Basque Festival’s Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum,...
Though, two weeks and more out from Ventana Sur, buzz still has to build on many new projects in the section, there’s also a good word on Andrew Sala’s “La barbarie,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo’s “Supernova” and Colombian Jennifer Yuribe’s “Sandra” – and curiosity to learn more about Uruguayan Aparicio Garcia’s “Matufia” after his one-of-kind debut earlier this year, the grindhouse rural mobster comedy “La noche que no se repite.”
An initiative of Ventana Sur and the San Sebastian Festival, Proyecta sees four projects segueing from the Basque Festival’s Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum,...
- 11/23/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Still Moving picks up ‘The Black Frost’ and ‘In The Last Days Of City’.
French sales and co-production company Still Moving has acquired world sales rights to Maximiliano Schonfeld’s The Black Frost [pictured] and Tamer El Said’s In The Last Days Of The City ahead of their premieres at the Berlinale (Feb 11-21).
The two titles are the first world sales acquisitions for the Paris-based company launched by industry veterans Pierre Menahem and Juliette Lepoutre at the last Berlinale with an initial focus on international co-productions
“We spent the first year focussing on co-productions and now we’re expanding into world sales which was always the way we planned it,” said Menahem.
The Black Frost, set to premiere in Panorama, is Argentine film-maker Schonfeld’s second film after his 2012 feature debut Germania in which a family is forced to leave their poultry farm after its birds are infected with a deadly plague-like disease.
His new film...
French sales and co-production company Still Moving has acquired world sales rights to Maximiliano Schonfeld’s The Black Frost [pictured] and Tamer El Said’s In The Last Days Of The City ahead of their premieres at the Berlinale (Feb 11-21).
The two titles are the first world sales acquisitions for the Paris-based company launched by industry veterans Pierre Menahem and Juliette Lepoutre at the last Berlinale with an initial focus on international co-productions
“We spent the first year focussing on co-productions and now we’re expanding into world sales which was always the way we planned it,” said Menahem.
The Black Frost, set to premiere in Panorama, is Argentine film-maker Schonfeld’s second film after his 2012 feature debut Germania in which a family is forced to leave their poultry farm after its birds are infected with a deadly plague-like disease.
His new film...
- 2/4/2016
- ScreenDaily
Heidi Brandenburg & Mathew Orzel’s "When Two Worlds Collide" (Isa: Film Sales Company) is the story of an indigenous Peruvian man and his people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rain forest. The film, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is the first-ever Peruvian recipient of a grant from the Institute.
It received a post-production grant from the Doha Film Institute following the Dubai International Film Festival in the fall of 2015. The grants program is dedicated to supporting new cinematic talent, with a focus on first- and second-time filmmakers. And, for the first time in its 11 year history, filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain received funding from the program. Twenty-four of the projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, while six are from the rest of the world.
"Rey" (King) by Niles Atallah (Chile)
In 1860, a French lawyer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia – and he did just that. Or so it seemed.
As in several previous sessions of the grants program, powerful projects from Argentina secured funding. Milagros Mumenthaler’s Swiss/Argentinian film "The Idea of a Lake" is about a photographer who undergoes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father while creating a book of her work, while Maximiliano Schonfeld’s "The Black Frost" is a drama set on a plantation where a pernicious black frost threatens to devastate the countryside until a mysterious woman arrives.
The 30 projects, comprising 16 feature-length narrative films, 10 feature documentaries and 4 short films –received funding for development, production or post-production.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers. Post-production funding is available to established filmmakers from the Mena region.
For more information about eligibility and submissions, please visit
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines
A full directory of past grant recipients is available to view at
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants...
It received a post-production grant from the Doha Film Institute following the Dubai International Film Festival in the fall of 2015. The grants program is dedicated to supporting new cinematic talent, with a focus on first- and second-time filmmakers. And, for the first time in its 11 year history, filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain received funding from the program. Twenty-four of the projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, while six are from the rest of the world.
"Rey" (King) by Niles Atallah (Chile)
In 1860, a French lawyer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia – and he did just that. Or so it seemed.
As in several previous sessions of the grants program, powerful projects from Argentina secured funding. Milagros Mumenthaler’s Swiss/Argentinian film "The Idea of a Lake" is about a photographer who undergoes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father while creating a book of her work, while Maximiliano Schonfeld’s "The Black Frost" is a drama set on a plantation where a pernicious black frost threatens to devastate the countryside until a mysterious woman arrives.
The 30 projects, comprising 16 feature-length narrative films, 10 feature documentaries and 4 short films –received funding for development, production or post-production.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers. Post-production funding is available to established filmmakers from the Mena region.
For more information about eligibility and submissions, please visit
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines
A full directory of past grant recipients is available to view at
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants...
- 1/28/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Plus… Carol producer Christine Vachon to receive special Teddy Award.Scroll down for full list of new additions
Berlin Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has announced that its Panorama Special strand will open on Feb 12 with Daniel Burman’s The Tenth Man (El rey del once) and the previously announced War on Everyone by John Michael McDonagh.
Argentinian director Burman opened the main programme of Panorama in 1988 with his debut A Chrysanthemum Bursts in Cinco Esquinas (Un crisantemo estalla en cinco esquinas). After presenting further works in Panorama and Competition, including Lost Embrace (El abrazo partido) which won two Silver Bears in 2004, Burman is to return with a portrait of multi-layered life in Once, the Jewish quarter of Buenos Aires.
Another Argentinian film in the Panorama is Maximiliano Schonfeld’s The Black Frost (La helada negra). In his second film, Schonfeld uses elegiac images to explore a world disconnected from time, where ancestors...
Berlin Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has announced that its Panorama Special strand will open on Feb 12 with Daniel Burman’s The Tenth Man (El rey del once) and the previously announced War on Everyone by John Michael McDonagh.
Argentinian director Burman opened the main programme of Panorama in 1988 with his debut A Chrysanthemum Bursts in Cinco Esquinas (Un crisantemo estalla en cinco esquinas). After presenting further works in Panorama and Competition, including Lost Embrace (El abrazo partido) which won two Silver Bears in 2004, Burman is to return with a portrait of multi-layered life in Once, the Jewish quarter of Buenos Aires.
Another Argentinian film in the Panorama is Maximiliano Schonfeld’s The Black Frost (La helada negra). In his second film, Schonfeld uses elegiac images to explore a world disconnected from time, where ancestors...
- 1/14/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Doha Film Institute has announced the recipients of the Fall 2015 session of its grants program following the Dubai International Film Festival, where 15 of the Institute’s previous grantees, 4 of which are world premieres, were showcased. Thirty projects from 19 countries – comprising 16 feature-length narrative films, 10 feature documentaries and 4 short films – will receive funding for development, production or post-production.
The Fall session marks the 11th session of the grants program, which is dedicated to supporting new cinematic talent, with a focus on first- and second-time filmmakers.
Twenty-four of the projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, while 6 are from the rest of the world. For the first time, filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will receive funding from the program.
Stories of displacement, physical or spiritual journeys, tales of family life, the power of nature and the importance of protecting the environment are highlighted in the selections this Fall.
Four projects from Qatar-based filmmakers were awarded grants – Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl," about a young pearl diver from Doha who discovers a map to the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenage friends in search of it; Hamida Al Kawari’s "To the Ends of the Earth" – the first Qatari feature documentary to receive a grant from the Institute – which follows a Qatari woman on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope; A.J. Al Thani’s "Kashta," a family drama about a father who takes his sons out into the desert to teach them about hunting and survival; and Hend Fakhroo’s "The Waiting Room," about an Arab and a Western family who find themselves sharing a hospital room.
Among the 30 projects selected for funding, 5 are from Morocco – Fyzal Boulifa’s "Pagan Magic," the story of a poor youngster working as a maid for a middle-class family; second-time grantee Uda Benyamina’s "Bastard," about a 15-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb; Yakout Elhababi’s "Behind the Doors," which looks at family life and childhood set high in the Rif mountains of Morocco; Hind Bensari’s "Weight Throwers," a documentary look at the struggles of two young athletes as they train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; and "Behind The Wall," by Karima Zoubir, a short film set in a Casablanca slum.
Also featuring strongly are three animation projects – established filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour’s "Miss Camel," the story of a teenage Saudi camel who challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by travelling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha; Mortada Gzar’s "Language," about a blind man on the streets of Baghdad who wakes up as a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch; and Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl."
As in several previous sessions of the grants program, powerful projects from Argentina have also secured funding. Milagros Mumenthaler’s Swiss/Argentinian film "The Idea of a Lake" is about a photographer who undergoes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father while creating a book of her work, while Maximiliano Schonfeld’s "The Black Frost" is a drama set on a plantation where a pernicious black frost threatens to devastate the countryside until a mysterious woman arrives.
Continuing the environmental theme, Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel’s "When Two Worlds Collide" is the story of an indigenous Peruvian man and his people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest. The film, which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is the first-ever Peruvian recipient of a grant from the Institute.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Our Fall grantees cover a broad range of subjects and represent some powerful new voices in cinema, especially from Qatar and North Africa with several projects supported from Morocco and Algeria.”
“Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we support two other animated projects in this grants cycle as well.”
“Our grantees represent the core of the Doha Film Institute’s mandate to support emerging filmmakers and contribute to the development of the regional film industry. We have supported more than 255 films since the inception of the grants program and we continue to seek out projects with a strong directorial vision that are challenging, creative and thought-provoking. Our new round of grantees is no exception and I am delighted to welcome this outstanding crop of projects to our growing community of grantee alumni.”
Submissions for the next funding round open January 6 and close January 19, 2016. Funding is available to projects by filmmakers from around the world, with an emphasis on support for filmmakers from the Mena region. Certain categories of funding reserved for Mena and Qatari filmmakers.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers. Post-production funding is available to established filmmakers from the Mena region.
For more information about eligibility and submissions, please visit
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines
A full directory of past grant recipients is available to view at
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants
The Doha Film Institute Grants Program funding recipients for the Fall 2015 session are:
Feature Narrative / Development
"Death Street" by Mohanad Hayal (Iraq)
Tariq, the sniper of Haifa Street in Baghdad, kills Ahmed on his wedding day. While Tariq prevents anyone from approaching the corpse in the street, an intimate and telling drama unfolds.
"Miss Camel" by Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudia Arabia)
A teenage Saudi camel challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by traveling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha.
"Pagan Magic" by Fyzal Boulifa (Morocco, France)
A young, poor and uneducated girl works as a maid for a middle-class family in contemporary Morocco. Her use of pagan rites to confront her entrapment and make sense of her world ultimately corrupt her.
"The Search for the Star Pearl" by Hafiz Ali Abdullah (Qatar)
Ali, a 17-year-old pearl diver from Doha, discovers a map to the Star Pearl of Abu Derya, the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenaged friends in search of the pearl. Along the way, they face mythological beasts that challenge their skills and friendship.
Feature Narrative / Production
"Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy (Egypt)
A flood leaves three Cairenes homeless. As they journey across the city in search of shelter, they depend upon one another to survive and keep their dreams alive.
"Poisonous Roses" by Fawzi Saleh (Egypt)
The world has left nothing to Taheya apart from her brother Saqr. When he disappears, Taheya pursues him in desperation.
"The Return" by Meyar Al-Roumi (Syria, France)
A love story blossoms between Taysir and Lina, exiles from Syria, while they drive across their homeland to bury Taysir’s brother, a victim of the armed conflict.
"Till the Swallows Return" by Karim Moussaoui (Algeria, France)
This is the story of three characters who are a product of the conflicted Algeria of the 2000s. Their ideals shattered and their moral strength drained, each now faces a difficult life choice.
Feature Narrative / Post-production
"Bastard" by Uda Benyamina (Morocco, France)
Fifteen-year-old Dounia lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb, where she has been saddled with the nickname “bastard”.
"The Black Frost" by Maximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina)
Soon after a mysterious woman arrives on a plantation, a pernicious black frost ceases to devastate the countryside. Hope emerges. Might she might be a saviour?
"Blue Bicycle" by Ümit Köreken (Turkey)
Young Ali saves up all the money he can working at a tyre repair shop to buy a coveted blue bicycle. Meanwhile, at school, his love for his schoolmate Elif leads him to defend her dismissal as school president. A story of childish love, dreams and resistance.
"The Dark Wind" by Hussein Hassan (Iraq)
Radical Islamists attack a village in Iraq where two young Yazidis are preparing for their marriage. At that moment, their lives become a nightmare.
"The Idea of a Lake" (note: previously titled Air Pocket) by Milagros Mumenthaler (Switzerland, Argentina)
Inés, a photographer, is creating a book of her work. Gradually, the process becomes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father, who was disappeared during the military dictatorship in Argentina.
"The Mimosas" by Oliver Laxe (Spain, Morocco, France)
In the Atlas Mountains in the past, a caravan searches for the path to take a Sufi master home to die. Among the party is Ahmed, a rascal who eventually becomes inspired to lead the caravan to its destination. Along the way, he is assisted by Shakib, a man sent from contemporary Morocco to guide Ahmed on his journey.
"Rey" (King) by Niles Atallah (Chile)
In 1860, a French lawyer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia – and he did just that. Or so it seemed.
"Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim (Tunisia)
N is a candidate for an illegal crossing of the Mediterranean from Tunisia. A supernatural voyage, during which N will confront Nature and himself, begins.
Feature Documentary / Development
"Agnus Dei" by Karim Sayad (Algeria, Switzerland)
In Algeria, Ali and his sheep, bought for slaughter on Eid Al-Adha, are getting ready for the fight. Once the bets are in, the referee invites the owners into the ring…
"Behind the Doors" by Yakout Elhababi (Morocco)
High in the Rif mountains of Morocco, the people survive by growing kif. Beneath the shadow of the ambiguous legality of the crop, ‘Behind the Doors’ tells the story of a family through its children and their mirroring games.
"The Great Family" by Eliane Raheb (Lebanon)
In 1976, at the age of four, Marlene was put up for adoption in Lebanon and raised in France. In delving into her past, she discovers she is a survivor of the massacre at the Tal Al-Zaatar Palestinian refugee camp, and a family of survivors grows around her.
Feature Documentary / Production
"The Colonel’s Stray Dogs" by Khalid Shamis (Libya, South Africa)
While director Khalid Shamis watched television in his suburban London home, his father was plotting the overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi in his study. When the regime fell, Shamis sought answers about Libya under Gadaffi and his father’s role in its failed liberation.
"Ibrahim" by Lina Alabed (Jordan)
‘Ibrahim’ uncovers the long journey of the director’s father as a young man, when he was a secret member of Abu Nidal, a militant Palestinian revolutionary organisation.
"Searching for Janitou" by Mohamed El Amine hattou (Algeria)
A journey to unravel love in past and contemporary Algeria by exploring the unique phenomenon of a Bollywood film that swept the country in the 1980s.
"To the Ends of the Earth" by Hamida Al Kawari ( Qatar)
A Qatari woman travels on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope, before returning to the Gulf and finding unity and inspiration for positive change.
"Weight Throwers" by Hind Bensari (Morocco)
‘Weight Thowers’ follows the struggles of Azzedine and Youssef, disabled members of Morocco’s unemployed and disillusioned young generation, as they struggle to train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Feature Documentary / Post-production
"Tadmor" by Lokman Slim, Monika Borgmann (Lebanon)
A group of Lebanese men re-enact the ordeals they experienced as detainees in Syria’s notorious Tadmor prison. An ode to the human will to survive.
"When Two Worlds Collide" by Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel (Peru)
A story of a man and a people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest.
Short Narrative / Production
"Behind the Wall" by Karima Zoubir (Morocco)
Nadia, a little girl, lives in a Casablanca slum that is surrounded by a wall. One day, the municipality begins to paint the wall – but why this sudden interest?
"Kashta" by A.J. Al Thani (Qatar)
A father takes his two sons out to the desert to learn about hunting and survival, but the results are not quite what he was expecting.
"Language" by Mortada Gzar (Iraq)
An old blind man walks throught the streets of Baghdad, then falls asleep while reading a book in Braille. When he wakes up, he finds he has become a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch.
"The Waiting Room" by Hind Fakhroo (Qatar)
An Arab family and a Western family find themselves sharing a hospital room; the only thing that separates them is a curtain.
The Fall session marks the 11th session of the grants program, which is dedicated to supporting new cinematic talent, with a focus on first- and second-time filmmakers.
Twenty-four of the projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, while 6 are from the rest of the world. For the first time, filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will receive funding from the program.
Stories of displacement, physical or spiritual journeys, tales of family life, the power of nature and the importance of protecting the environment are highlighted in the selections this Fall.
Four projects from Qatar-based filmmakers were awarded grants – Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl," about a young pearl diver from Doha who discovers a map to the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenage friends in search of it; Hamida Al Kawari’s "To the Ends of the Earth" – the first Qatari feature documentary to receive a grant from the Institute – which follows a Qatari woman on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope; A.J. Al Thani’s "Kashta," a family drama about a father who takes his sons out into the desert to teach them about hunting and survival; and Hend Fakhroo’s "The Waiting Room," about an Arab and a Western family who find themselves sharing a hospital room.
Among the 30 projects selected for funding, 5 are from Morocco – Fyzal Boulifa’s "Pagan Magic," the story of a poor youngster working as a maid for a middle-class family; second-time grantee Uda Benyamina’s "Bastard," about a 15-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb; Yakout Elhababi’s "Behind the Doors," which looks at family life and childhood set high in the Rif mountains of Morocco; Hind Bensari’s "Weight Throwers," a documentary look at the struggles of two young athletes as they train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; and "Behind The Wall," by Karima Zoubir, a short film set in a Casablanca slum.
Also featuring strongly are three animation projects – established filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour’s "Miss Camel," the story of a teenage Saudi camel who challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by travelling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha; Mortada Gzar’s "Language," about a blind man on the streets of Baghdad who wakes up as a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch; and Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl."
As in several previous sessions of the grants program, powerful projects from Argentina have also secured funding. Milagros Mumenthaler’s Swiss/Argentinian film "The Idea of a Lake" is about a photographer who undergoes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father while creating a book of her work, while Maximiliano Schonfeld’s "The Black Frost" is a drama set on a plantation where a pernicious black frost threatens to devastate the countryside until a mysterious woman arrives.
Continuing the environmental theme, Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel’s "When Two Worlds Collide" is the story of an indigenous Peruvian man and his people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest. The film, which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is the first-ever Peruvian recipient of a grant from the Institute.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Our Fall grantees cover a broad range of subjects and represent some powerful new voices in cinema, especially from Qatar and North Africa with several projects supported from Morocco and Algeria.”
“Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we support two other animated projects in this grants cycle as well.”
“Our grantees represent the core of the Doha Film Institute’s mandate to support emerging filmmakers and contribute to the development of the regional film industry. We have supported more than 255 films since the inception of the grants program and we continue to seek out projects with a strong directorial vision that are challenging, creative and thought-provoking. Our new round of grantees is no exception and I am delighted to welcome this outstanding crop of projects to our growing community of grantee alumni.”
Submissions for the next funding round open January 6 and close January 19, 2016. Funding is available to projects by filmmakers from around the world, with an emphasis on support for filmmakers from the Mena region. Certain categories of funding reserved for Mena and Qatari filmmakers.
The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers. Post-production funding is available to established filmmakers from the Mena region.
For more information about eligibility and submissions, please visit
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines
A full directory of past grant recipients is available to view at
http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants
The Doha Film Institute Grants Program funding recipients for the Fall 2015 session are:
Feature Narrative / Development
"Death Street" by Mohanad Hayal (Iraq)
Tariq, the sniper of Haifa Street in Baghdad, kills Ahmed on his wedding day. While Tariq prevents anyone from approaching the corpse in the street, an intimate and telling drama unfolds.
"Miss Camel" by Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudia Arabia)
A teenage Saudi camel challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by traveling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha.
"Pagan Magic" by Fyzal Boulifa (Morocco, France)
A young, poor and uneducated girl works as a maid for a middle-class family in contemporary Morocco. Her use of pagan rites to confront her entrapment and make sense of her world ultimately corrupt her.
"The Search for the Star Pearl" by Hafiz Ali Abdullah (Qatar)
Ali, a 17-year-old pearl diver from Doha, discovers a map to the Star Pearl of Abu Derya, the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenaged friends in search of the pearl. Along the way, they face mythological beasts that challenge their skills and friendship.
Feature Narrative / Production
"Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy (Egypt)
A flood leaves three Cairenes homeless. As they journey across the city in search of shelter, they depend upon one another to survive and keep their dreams alive.
"Poisonous Roses" by Fawzi Saleh (Egypt)
The world has left nothing to Taheya apart from her brother Saqr. When he disappears, Taheya pursues him in desperation.
"The Return" by Meyar Al-Roumi (Syria, France)
A love story blossoms between Taysir and Lina, exiles from Syria, while they drive across their homeland to bury Taysir’s brother, a victim of the armed conflict.
"Till the Swallows Return" by Karim Moussaoui (Algeria, France)
This is the story of three characters who are a product of the conflicted Algeria of the 2000s. Their ideals shattered and their moral strength drained, each now faces a difficult life choice.
Feature Narrative / Post-production
"Bastard" by Uda Benyamina (Morocco, France)
Fifteen-year-old Dounia lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb, where she has been saddled with the nickname “bastard”.
"The Black Frost" by Maximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina)
Soon after a mysterious woman arrives on a plantation, a pernicious black frost ceases to devastate the countryside. Hope emerges. Might she might be a saviour?
"Blue Bicycle" by Ümit Köreken (Turkey)
Young Ali saves up all the money he can working at a tyre repair shop to buy a coveted blue bicycle. Meanwhile, at school, his love for his schoolmate Elif leads him to defend her dismissal as school president. A story of childish love, dreams and resistance.
"The Dark Wind" by Hussein Hassan (Iraq)
Radical Islamists attack a village in Iraq where two young Yazidis are preparing for their marriage. At that moment, their lives become a nightmare.
"The Idea of a Lake" (note: previously titled Air Pocket) by Milagros Mumenthaler (Switzerland, Argentina)
Inés, a photographer, is creating a book of her work. Gradually, the process becomes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father, who was disappeared during the military dictatorship in Argentina.
"The Mimosas" by Oliver Laxe (Spain, Morocco, France)
In the Atlas Mountains in the past, a caravan searches for the path to take a Sufi master home to die. Among the party is Ahmed, a rascal who eventually becomes inspired to lead the caravan to its destination. Along the way, he is assisted by Shakib, a man sent from contemporary Morocco to guide Ahmed on his journey.
"Rey" (King) by Niles Atallah (Chile)
In 1860, a French lawyer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia – and he did just that. Or so it seemed.
"Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim (Tunisia)
N is a candidate for an illegal crossing of the Mediterranean from Tunisia. A supernatural voyage, during which N will confront Nature and himself, begins.
Feature Documentary / Development
"Agnus Dei" by Karim Sayad (Algeria, Switzerland)
In Algeria, Ali and his sheep, bought for slaughter on Eid Al-Adha, are getting ready for the fight. Once the bets are in, the referee invites the owners into the ring…
"Behind the Doors" by Yakout Elhababi (Morocco)
High in the Rif mountains of Morocco, the people survive by growing kif. Beneath the shadow of the ambiguous legality of the crop, ‘Behind the Doors’ tells the story of a family through its children and their mirroring games.
"The Great Family" by Eliane Raheb (Lebanon)
In 1976, at the age of four, Marlene was put up for adoption in Lebanon and raised in France. In delving into her past, she discovers she is a survivor of the massacre at the Tal Al-Zaatar Palestinian refugee camp, and a family of survivors grows around her.
Feature Documentary / Production
"The Colonel’s Stray Dogs" by Khalid Shamis (Libya, South Africa)
While director Khalid Shamis watched television in his suburban London home, his father was plotting the overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi in his study. When the regime fell, Shamis sought answers about Libya under Gadaffi and his father’s role in its failed liberation.
"Ibrahim" by Lina Alabed (Jordan)
‘Ibrahim’ uncovers the long journey of the director’s father as a young man, when he was a secret member of Abu Nidal, a militant Palestinian revolutionary organisation.
"Searching for Janitou" by Mohamed El Amine hattou (Algeria)
A journey to unravel love in past and contemporary Algeria by exploring the unique phenomenon of a Bollywood film that swept the country in the 1980s.
"To the Ends of the Earth" by Hamida Al Kawari ( Qatar)
A Qatari woman travels on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope, before returning to the Gulf and finding unity and inspiration for positive change.
"Weight Throwers" by Hind Bensari (Morocco)
‘Weight Thowers’ follows the struggles of Azzedine and Youssef, disabled members of Morocco’s unemployed and disillusioned young generation, as they struggle to train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Feature Documentary / Post-production
"Tadmor" by Lokman Slim, Monika Borgmann (Lebanon)
A group of Lebanese men re-enact the ordeals they experienced as detainees in Syria’s notorious Tadmor prison. An ode to the human will to survive.
"When Two Worlds Collide" by Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel (Peru)
A story of a man and a people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest.
Short Narrative / Production
"Behind the Wall" by Karima Zoubir (Morocco)
Nadia, a little girl, lives in a Casablanca slum that is surrounded by a wall. One day, the municipality begins to paint the wall – but why this sudden interest?
"Kashta" by A.J. Al Thani (Qatar)
A father takes his two sons out to the desert to learn about hunting and survival, but the results are not quite what he was expecting.
"Language" by Mortada Gzar (Iraq)
An old blind man walks throught the streets of Baghdad, then falls asleep while reading a book in Braille. When he wakes up, he finds he has become a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch.
"The Waiting Room" by Hind Fakhroo (Qatar)
An Arab family and a Western family find themselves sharing a hospital room; the only thing that separates them is a curtain.
- 1/5/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Wadjda director among 30 awarded grants in the Doha Film Institute’s latest round of funding.Scroll down for the full list of projects
Haifaa Al Mansour, the director of 2012 Bafta-nominated Wadjda, has received a grant for her first animated feature project Miss Camel (in development) as part of the Doha Film Institute’s Fall 2015 round of funding.
The film will follow a teenage camel in Saudi Arabia which travels across the country to compete in a beauty pageant.
In total, 30 projects have received grants, including 16 feature films, three of which are animations, and 10 documentaries.
Of the projects selected, 24 are from the Mena region, while for the first time filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will all receive funding.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we...
Haifaa Al Mansour, the director of 2012 Bafta-nominated Wadjda, has received a grant for her first animated feature project Miss Camel (in development) as part of the Doha Film Institute’s Fall 2015 round of funding.
The film will follow a teenage camel in Saudi Arabia which travels across the country to compete in a beauty pageant.
In total, 30 projects have received grants, including 16 feature films, three of which are animations, and 10 documentaries.
Of the projects selected, 24 are from the Mena region, while for the first time filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will all receive funding.
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we...
- 12/21/2015
- ScreenDaily
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