With the participation of 150 international film experts in the film industry in the various stages from scriptwriting to production and marketing, the Doha Film Institute is organizing the eighth edition of the annual Film Forum "Qumra" during the period from 18 to 23 March.
Doha supports talents
The forum includes events and online sessions to select and produce 45 film projects, including 28 feature films, 6 series, and 11 short films, including 6 feature films and feature documentaries from Qatar.
In a statement recently launched by the Doha Film Institute, the CEO of the Doha Film Institute Fatima Hassan Al-Rumaihi said that "Al Qumra" in 2022 will continue its mission to support film talents around the world, and facilitate the making of their films, starting from writing to the screening stage.
Al-Rumaihi added that the forum seeks to explore the bold voices of the world of cinema and promote their touching stories that receive global attention.
The statement indicated that the pattern that is adopted in the eighth online session ensures that all participants attend, and that they acquire advanced knowledge, new opportunities and exceptional abilities to achieve the success of their projects.
global experts
During the forum’s activities, experts start virtual training sessions to develop projects, along with workshops, and then in the second track of the forum, copies of films under development are shown and opinions are given in order to work on them professionally.
The list of attendees includes experts from 35 countries around the world, including directors, producers, filmmakers, festival directors, fund managers and distributors.
The list of mentors and mentors for Qumra projects this year includes director Elia Suleiman and internationally acclaimed filmmakers Kamal Al Jaafari, Raithi Ban, Ghassan Salhab, Tala Hadid, Talal Derki and Annemarie Jacir.
During the forum's activities, experts begin virtual training sessions for project development (Al Jazeera)
The consultants who will support feature film projects are Paolo Bertolin and Violetta Bava, montage experts Alex Bosch and Benjamin Mergate, sales experts Gabor Grenier, Aranca Matets and Martina Drondi, screenwriters Joel Thomas, Britta Krause and Antoine Waked, post-production expert Constantina Storiano and sound expert Severin Favreau, video-on-demand experts Kevin Chan, Ava Stryker and Pierre Alexanderlabel, and documentary consultants Brigid O'Shea, Jehan Tahri and Bob Moore.
In the soap operas category, the experts are Ryan Onan, Basem Brich, Gabriel Capolino, Frederick Peturs Duvskirke, Neerja Narayana, and Marek Muslers.
The short film coaches include Laurent Croiso, Ben Thompson, Alice Kharroubi, Water Jansen, Camille Hebert-Benazt, Wim Fanacker, Ayman Al Amir, Karim Aitouneh and Flavio Armon.
Producers include Eric Frazier, Mohamed Hefzy, Mark Lorber, Thanassis Karathanos, Georges Choucair, Jason Cleot, Nicholas Seles, Rita Dagher, Eva Buchinzka and Terry Lenovel.
Khuzama, the participant in the Qumra Film Forum 2022 (Al Jazeera)
Participation in international festivals
Representatives from more than 50 festivals around the world will participate in the Qumra Forum, including the Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Tribeca, Toronto, Sarajevo, Sundance, Karlovy Valley, the International Documentary Festival (Hot Docs), Doc Leipzig, Busan, and the Gelava International Festival. For Documentary Films, Amsterdam International Documentary Festival, Vision du Real, Cairo Festival and Marrakech.
It is noteworthy that the Qumra Forum is affiliated with the Doha Film Institute, and has worked during previous sessions to support young talents in making their films, and the forum was canceled in 2020 due to the outbreak of the Corona virus, and last year the session was held by default.