Doha Film Institute to host over 100 industry experts at Qumra this year

Doha Film Institute (DFI) will host more than 100 international film industry experts who will mentor 36 Qumra projects from March 15 to 20, mostly helmed by first- and second-time filmmakers.  Along with the Qumra Masters, the six-day event will welcome accomplished film directors, producers, film festival directors, programmers, consultants, fund managers, sales professionals, acquisition heads, script experts, distributors, video on demand (VoD) platforms and broadcasters, and other industry professionals. Several of them have formed strong bonds to the annual event, which has become the premiere talent hub and project incubator for new voices and compelling stories in Arab and world cinema.The 2019 Qumra industry delegates includes representation from more than 15 leading international film festivals, and executives from some of the world’s leading film production companies, sales and distribution companies, and cultural and funding agencies. International delegates come from countries ranging from Chile to Italy, Canada to Japan and the UK to the USA among others. Attendees from the region include delegates from Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Turkey, Syria and Tunisia.The Qumra industry programme focuses on 36 projects from 19 countries at various stages of development. The sessions are presented in two strands: tutorials, workshops, consultations and one-on-one meetings for projects still in development; and a series of works-in-progress screenings and feedback sessions for projects in post-production. Qumra covers the script-to-screen journey and beyond, and with the inclusion of VoD and online platforms, filmmakers can look beyond conventional platforms to take their projects to a wider audience.“We are pleased to once again host the world’s leading film industry professionals at our Qumra 2019,” said Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute. “The tools that delegates provide elevate the creative and technical standards of film production in Qatar and the region, and hones filmmakers’ ability to identify and connect to local and global audiences.”“The unprecedented access for emerging talent to the world’s top leaders across all aspects of filmmaking from development to distribution boosts the potential of projects for success. We are very grateful for the generous contribution of all our industry experts and look forward to facilitating this inspiring energy for the 5th year in a row,” she added.Consultants confirmed to advise on the Qumra projects include filmmakers Rithy Panh, Ghassan Salhab, Tala Hadid, Annemarie Jacir, Karim Ainouz, cinematographer Sofian El Fani; editor Sebastian Sepuldeva, producer Joslyn Barnes and Jean des Forets. Among industry leaders attending Qumra include Franklin Leonard, founder of The Blacklist; Michel Reilhac, head of Studies at Venice Biennale College and VR expert; Funa Maduka, Content Acquisition for Independent Feature Films & Documentaries at Netflix; Bobby Allen, vice president of Content at MUBI and Sam Morrill, director of Curation at Vimeo.Festivals directors of Berlinale, Toronto, Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, Marrakech, Sarajevo, IDFA, Visions du Reel, and programmers from Directors Fortnight and Critics Week in Cannes, Venice Biennale, Locarno, Tribeca and Mumbai among others, will be attending the work in progress screenings of projects in post-production.There is a strong representation of film institutes and funds such as: Sundance Institute, Tribeca Institute, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, World Cinema Fund, Eurimages Fund, Luxembourg Film Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Centre Cinematographique Marocain, Centre National du Cinema et de I’image Tunisien, Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), Torino Film Lab, and Venice Biennale.International Sales and Distributors include Wild Bunch, The Match Factory, New Europe Film Sales, Stray Dogs, Films Boutique, Doc & Films, Bac Films, MC Distribution, among others.  Qatar-based organisations include teams from Qatar TV, Al Rayyan TV, Al Jazeera Media Network, Al Jazeera Documentary along with over 120 Qatar-based film, production, media and entertainment delegates who will also participate in the programme.This year’s Qumra Masters are French New Wave cinema legend Agnes Varda, prolific Japanese director and writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Polish auteur Pawel Pawlikowski, Academy Award winning Mexican production designer Eugenio Caballero, and Cannes award veteran Italian writer and director Alice Rohrwacher.The Qumra 2019 industry events include the Qumra Masterclasses, led by the Qumra Masters; workshops and meetings for first- and second-time filmmakers with international film industry experts in bespoke mentorship sessions; Qumra Screenings of feature films presented by the Qumra Masters and recipients of funding from the Institute, followed by question-and-answer sessions; and the Qumra Talks, which are panel-style discussions that cover a broad range of topics.