Qatari cinema is stepping steadily to put its name among the leading countries in the field of seventh art, thanks to a number of initiatives and development plans aimed at promoting it.
The beginning of film production in Qatar goes back to the '50s of the last century through the oil companies that filmed several films about life in the country.
In an interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), General Manager of Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Company (QCFDC), the Director and Film Critic Abdulrahman Najdi said that according to Tom Sherak, the former president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the US, cinema has emerged as the most attractive and expensive means of communication in the 20th century, as it can influence culture, politics, laws, and most importantly, it has the power to change the world and alter the course of history.
He pointed out that in 1960, British documentary director Rod Baxter made a documentary film in Doha, in which he describes the process of pearl diving, which was then one of the main ways of earning a living in Doha.
The film presented aspects of progress in oil production and aspects of development that have taken place in Qatar.
"In his book 'Documentary Cinema in the Arab World', the writer and director Samir Atallah quoted the French historian Georges Sadoul in his most famous book, 'The History of Cinema', as saying that this film can be considered the date of the birth of cinema in the State of Qatar, and it is an opinion agreed upon by most writers and historians of cinema in the world," Najdi added.
Historians believe that the first film of any country is the one that was filmed on its soil, whether its director was a citizen of the country or a foreigner, therefore, the cinematic films of any country are ones that were filmed on its territory, regardless of the language of the film written in the silent cinema or spoken in the talkies, and whatever the nationality of the capital, or the nationality of the producer or the director.
Najdi said that if we accept the popular opinion that the entry of cinema in the Gulf region was associated with the emergence of oil and the delegations of many foreign exploration companies to Qatar and presenting it to their workers, it is likely that we go back to the second half of the '30s of the last century, at that time the copies of films that were brought were limited to 16mm.
With the expansion of these companies to the scope of their work, especially in areas such as Dukhan and Mesaieed, and the establishment of many housing complexes and camps for their workers, and the establishment of a number of private clubs for workers in the oil industry in Doha, cinema was the only means of entertainment available to pass the time at that time.
"Gradually, cinema began to impose its influence, and it was only natural for it to expand after the people of Qatar experienced it and found in it an unprecedented means of entertainment. At that time, some of the notables of the people began to bring special 16mm and 8mm cinema projectors to watch Egyptian and Indian films in their private councils before the end of the '50s era." he added.
He said that in the mid-1960s, film watching expanded to include other segments of the public in Qatar, adding that according to Ahmed Nasser Obaidan (one of the founders and former chairman of the board of directors of Qatar Cinema Company), a person named (Beshara) of Lebanese nationality who used to work for Sheikh Nasser bin Khaled was the first to take the initiative to bring film boxes from abroad in 1968.
He owned a number of 16 and 8mm film projection machines that he moved around and rented to clubs.
As a result of this enthusiasm, Sultan bin Saif al-Essa took the initiative to rent a piece of land in the eastern corner of the "Al Majnoun" roundabout, and built the Al Andalus Cinema hall on it.
It was an open cinema with a number of chairs, a screen, and a projector room.
At the end of the '60s, a number of eminent people in Qatar submitted a request to establish a public shareholding company for cinema under the supervision and control of the State.
A meeting of a number of merchants was held in Doha Secondary School, and thus the Qatar Cinema Company was established, two cinemas were purchased as a start.
Najdi said: "We first started negotiating to buy Amir and Al Andalus cinemas, then we brought Iraqi engineers to design it, and the first chairman of its board of directors was HE Sheikh Jassim bin Khalid al-Thani, and this is how cinema began in Qatar."
Najdi explained that the establishment of a media department in 1969 and the opening of Qatar TV in 1970, the establishment of the Qatari Ministry of Information in 1974, then the establishment of a documentary film unit affiliated with Qatar TV in 1981, which was supervised by the late director Ismail Khalid, all these contributed to the production of a group of long and short documentaries and feature films, as these films took several forms, ranging from the lifestyles that were associated with the sea at that time, to the traditions that characterised Qatari society.
Najdi enumerates a number of films such as the movie "Al Shiraa" (1967), produced by Qatar TV, whose story revolves around the relationship between man and the wild sea, and the film won Shalimar award.
He also mentioned the movie "Diving" (1980), which is one of the most important films of that era, in which it recorded the details of the diving trip and the extraction of pearls, in addition to the movie "Al-Dana" (1981), which won the Best Film Award at the Carthage Film Festival in 1982.
He also narrated a number of films, the most important of which is the film "Plastic Arts" (1985), which is a vivid panorama that chronicles the march of a number of pioneers of plastic art in Qatar, such as Youssef Ahmed, the late Jassim Zaini, Hassan al-Mulla and others.
He noted that these films, with different visions and aspirations, provided an opportunity to see Qatar at an important stage in its modern history, where the honour of preserving the culture of that glorious era in the history of the State of Qatar is attributed to it.
He pointed out that years passed and the cinema movement was almost stopped, especially between the mid-1980s and the end of the 1990s, but with the beginning of the current millennium, cinema was strongly present following the return of a generation of Qatari youth studying the arts and sciences of cinema in America, Egypt and elsewhere.
They have already achieved a number of promising cinematic films that won a number of awards and honors, and put their cinema on the international regional arena.
He added that the cinema did not continue its activity with the same enthusiasm with which it began, attributing this to a number of reasons, including that the Qatari youth may not have had a party that would adopt their cinematic project, by creating a cinema that honestly and transparently addresses the issues of the problems and aspirations of the Qatari man, and emphasises the national identity of this cinema.
At the end they were satisfied with the government job and left their dreams of making cinema, even if for a while.
Najdi said it was expected that the last film of the Qatari director Khalifa al-Muraikhi "Clockwise", the first Qatari feature film produced by the Ministry of Culture, will be the starting point for a cinema industry that does not lack material and human resources, however, the reality is that this achievement did not open the door to an expected cinema industry, despite the welcome that the film found in the Qatari street.
He stressed that a number of young filmmakers have contributed to liberating cinema from the restrictions that shackled it after their return from studying the arts and sciences of cinema abroad.
They succeeded in achieving documentaries and short narrative films that achieved many successes, and demonstrated the ability of these young people, if they find support and encouragement, to put Qatar on the world cinema map.
Regarding the successive developments in the film industry and the current scene, Najdi said that the cinematic viewing movement in Qatar has developed incredibly over the past three decades, as the cinema audience shifted from a vague and passive audience, to an audience that watched international films on the same opening date as their international shows.
Visiting cinemas has become a common occurrence in Doha in the last two decades.
It reached its peak in recent years after many film companies in the region opened branches in Doha, where the number of halls reached nearly 200 halls.
Najdi concluded his interview by quoting writer and critic Henry Foreman, who said that "cinema makes children," since in many countries it has become a kind of educational system and a social window.
Doha Film Institute is dedicated to film appreciation, education, and building a dynamic film industry in Qatar that focuses on nurturing regional storytellers while being entirely global in its scope.
With culture, community, education and entertainment at its foundation, Doha Film Institute serves as an all-encompassing film hub in Doha, as well as a resource for the region and the rest of the world.
Believing in the power of film to change hearts and minds, and its motto reflects the sentiment that "Film is Life".
Abdulrahman Najdi
