DFI-Supported Films to Premiere at Upcoming Venice Film Festival

The festival strives to spread awareness and support the global film in all of its guises as entertainment, art, and business.

This year, the Doha Film Institute (DFI) supports support 13 films at the eagerly anticipated Venice International Film Festival as local filmmakers continue to make waves around the world.

The global festival is one of the most well-known events and includes a number of sidebar and auxiliary activities with the goal of raising awareness and promoting the international film in all of its manifestations as art, entertainment, and industry.

La Biennale di Venezia oversees organizing this year's event, which will run from August 31 through September 10 in the breathtaking Venice Lido and be headed by Alberto Barbera.

The selection highlights the range of the DFI's support for independent voices in cinema by including films from Algeria, Egypt, France, Jordan, Indonesia, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.

According to DFI CEO Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, "We are immensely happy to display 13 unique films funded by the DFI at the Venice Film Festival this year, underscoring our commitment to encourage young Arab talent and filmmakers from around the world."

The movie that Makbul Mubarak directed The film Autobiography, which was made at Qumra and was filmed in Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Poland, Germany, France, and Qatar, has been selected for the Orizzonti, an event for movies that highlight the newest expressive and aesthetic trends.

It tells the tale of a teenage kid who is abandoned after his father is sent to prison.

Another Qumra performance, Nezouh (Syria, Lebanon, Qatar), has been chosen for the Orizzonti Extra selection, which features up to 10 foreign works that demonstrate creative originality.

The short film, which was directed by Soudade Kaadan, follows Zeina, the main character, whose home's ceiling was destroyed by a missile. She makes friends with the young boy who lives next door and experiences the outside world for the first time after previously being forbidden from even opening a window.

The Last Queen (Algeria, France, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Qatar), which was also created in Qumra, is an official selection to the 19th edition of Giornate degli Autori, a separate sidebar of the Venice Film Festival fashioned after the renowned "Directors' Fortnight" of the Cannes Festival. The historical drama was directed by Damien Ounouri and is set around 1516.

Dirty Difficult Dangerous (France, Lebanon, Germany, Qatar), the DFI's 2019 Spring Grants recipient, also had a screening at the Venice Giornate degli Autori's Official Selection.

Ahmed, a Syrian refugee who wanders the streets of Beirut with hundreds of shrapnel wounds on his body, is the subject of the Wissam Charaf-directed film.

The Yasmine Benkiran-directed film Queens (Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar) will be screened at "Critics Week," a special section of the Venice International Film Festival run by the Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI).

Six films supported by the DFI are included in the 10th "Final Cut" workshop in Venice, which aims to provide significant aid in the completion of films from all of Africa, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.

The movies include Land of Women (Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar) by Nada Riyadh, InshAllah A Boy (Jordan, Egypt, France, Qatar) by Amjad al-Rasheed, Blacklight (Algeria, France, Qatar) by Karim Bensalah, Backstage (Morocco, Tunisia, France, Belgium, Norway, Qatar) by Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khal. The lineup in this category is completed by Kamal Aljafari's A Fidai Film (Palestine, Germany, Qatar). 

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