It is always great to be in Doha for their annual industry meetings, yet this time it feels extra crucial and important — as cinema is what I turn to in order to heal and help understand the world around me.
Our world is broken. Let’s face it. The sooner we come to terms with that idea, the better it will be. Those who face their challenges without hiding or running away from them are able to tackle them head on.
Because what is happening, and has been happening between Israel and Palestine isn’t bad simply for one side or the other — depending on which side you find yourself on. It’s tragic for humanity. People are getting killed and that’s all I need to know to feel sorry for those who are losing their lives. I believe in communal karma, and I carry that weight at the moment, as we all do.
During the opening meet-and-greet of Qumra, Hanaa Issa, Director of Film Funding & Programmes, Strategy & Development, as well as Qumra Deputy Director at the Doha Film Institute, talked about her ten year old daughters and read a poem from a book of theirs titled Begin Again, written by Oliver Jeffers. The title of the poem, which the girls had previously read to Issa — and she donned a special heart pin they suggested she should wear while reading it — is ‘The Heart of It’.
“When you dig, deep enough, by asking the why behind the why enough times, you come to a truth, at the heart of it; that all people, no matter who they are, where they are from and what they believe, just want the same things: a den, a pack, a position and a direction.” Issa admitted that the poem got her thinking, “this is what we do here, at DFI,” with the projects they nurture and present, “they are just that, they dig and dig deep enough and they get to a heart — perhaps a common heart.”
I often come to Doha at a time during the year when my energy is at its lowest and Qumra somehow reboots it, like a giant battery plugged into my weary heart. I think this year it will be an even more challenging feat because I feel exhausted of hoping for the best only to witness the worst. But the buzz at the initial event in the courtyard of the Museum of Islamic Art and the way people connected with each other, in a special, intimate way, gives me hope. Yup, that hope that until I got on that plane to Doha yesterday seemed to have faded.
Welcoming over 200 industry experts and the talents associated with over 40 Qumra projects, Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of Doha Film Institute, and another crucial figure in the success of Qumra said: “Qumra is an extension of the Institute’s commitment to support promising filmmakers to overcome the various challenges of telling authentic stories. While we celebrate the progress that we have made in nurturing new voices in cinema, we are also confronted with the genocide in Gaza and the ongoing attempts to silence the voices crying out against it. This cultural genocide is a profound reminder of our responsibility as a global community to ensure that all voices are heard, and all lives are treated with dignity and respect.”
Qumra class of 2024, courtesy of the DFI
She continued: “While the situation continues to worsen in Palestine and countries throughout the region including Yemen, Lebanon, Sudan and Syria, providing a platform to acknowledge the courage and resilience of those fighting against oppression becomes even more important. The Doha Film Institute has always been and will remain dedicated to realising important stories and amplifying unheard voices that connect us in our shared humanity. We are proud to be on the journey with these bold and evocative projects that will impact our societies for years to come.”
Palestinian auteur Elia Suleiman, who is the DFI’s Artistic Advisor, also added: “Qumra offers the opportunity to ask what must be done to take responsibility, and a moral and ethical position on what films enable us to discuss about genocides, massacres and horrible violence around the world. Here we have the benefit of distance from what is going on [in the region]. It allows the questioning of what must be done in the context of storytelling, and in the context of asking cinematic questions as we tell our stories. This is the right time to contemplate, meditate and take a solemn moment but also start to converse and discuss aesthetics to somehow have some inspiration and creativity.”
Elia Suleiman, speaking at this year’s Qumra
He also offered some comic relief, which is how his films often work — jabbing with his cinematic fist the audience, pumping them full of his astute observations on human nature, only to tickle them later with their own issues. Suleiman talked about finally watching the film Barbie on the plane over.
“I have to say that in between the rice and chicken dinner, I was not able to follow all the nuances, because it’s so multilayered in its political correctness…” he said about the Greta Gerwig film, continuing, “at some point, because of lack of focus and concentration I couldn’t follow it through, and so I decided to quit it somewhere half way and, I think for the benefit of the film, to leave it kind of open ended.” I can hear myself laugh on the recording I grabbed to transcribe the quote correctly.
Suleiman gets it, because in that space where tears have lived for so long, since October 7th, there is now a hollow place which has been dug and which laughter alone can fill, so quickly and easily. Laughter is so very much needed at the moment, as the antidote to tears, so a reminder to self, not to feel guilty when I can feel it creeping up on me, that good guffaw.
Qumra continues through March 6th, in Msheireb and inside the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. More on Toni Colette’s opening day Masterclass coming tomorrow, right here.
All images courtesy of the DFI, used with permission.