Starting right here, right now, I’m kicking off a podcast that brings together film and fashion in a brand new way, where you'll find yourself sitting in the room with celebrities and artists, for some cozy conversations. Cultural events and world affairs decoded, from Cannes to Venice to London and across the pond, to NYC.
Read MoreCannes' sidebars -- Critics' Week, Directors' Fortnight and ACID selections announced
Among the titles which stand out to me immediately are two beautiful projects, one selected for Critics’ Week and the other in the Fortnight line up, which participated in the recent DFI Qumra industry incubator. And I included the shorts in Critics’ Week!
Read MoreClockwise from left: Walter Salles, Anna Terrazas, Darius Khondji and Lav Diaz
Walter Salles, Lav Diaz and 'Roma' costume designer Anna Terrazas announced as Qumra Masters 2025
The list for the upcoming edition also includes César and Academy Award nominated DoP Darius Khondji, and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To Kei-Fung.
Read MoreA still from ‘Aïcha’ by Mehdi Barsaoui, courtesy of The Party Film Sales
More to love from the Doha Film Institute at this year's Venice Film Fest
This year there are 12 Doha Film Institute supported films in the lineup on the Lido, plus the DFI is hosting a special afternoon and even a gala dinner celebrating their achievements in the world of cinema and art.
Read MoreA still from ‘Salted Skins’ by Nicolas Fattouh, courtesy of the DFI
The Cannes Diaries: Doha Dreaming with multiple DFI projects in the Cannes Official line up & Spring 2024 upcoming grants
It’s all in a week’s work for the Doha Film Institute, the greatest cinematic organization in the MENA region.
Read MoreA still from ‘The Girl with the Needle’, courtesy of the Festival de Cannes
The Cannes Diaries: Magical interviews, chance meetings and beautiful films
There is a trick to this festival. If you stand still long enough in Cannes — something a bit difficult to do on a weekend as crowds are bustling all around you — you’ll run into everyone who is anyone in the film universe.
Read MorePoster by Takeshi Kitano, titled, appropriately by the Japanese actor, writer, comedian, painter and director “Takeshi”
Cannes' Quinzaine and Semaine announce line ups
And there are some must-watch films in there which cannot be missed.
Read MoreThe Qumra class of 2024, captured in the courtyard of the Museum of Islamic Art
The Qumra Diaries: the good, the bad and the overcrowded
And no, I’m not talking about the bustling Souq Waqif on the eve of Ramadan!
Read MoreThe Qumra Diaries: Lessons from the Masters
From violence in cinema, to not watching films at all once you’ve made one, there were shocking and cool revelations at this year’s DFI industry meet, featuring filmmakers Jim Sheridan, Leos Carax and more.
Read MoreThe Qumra Diaries, on inspiration: rediscovering the soundtrack of 'Annette' in Doha
The power of music is undeniable. And no one harnesses it better than French filmmaker Leos Carax, one of the Qumra Masters at this year’s DFI industry event.
Read MoreFatma Hassan Alremaihi at Qumra 2024, courtesy of the DFI
The Qumra Diaries: I've landed in a place of inspiration
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.
Read MoreA still from ‘The land was well past its zenith’ by Rita Mahfouz
"We have to set our minds on how to create pockets of hope": Elia Suleiman on holding DFI's Qumra in these challenging times
Plus actress and producer Toni Colette, is confirmed as the sixth 2024 Master for the upcoming tenth anniversary edition of the industry incubator and the participating projects are announced.
Read MoreJim Sheridan, Leos Carax, Claire Denis and more at Qumra for this year's DFI industry meet up
Plus Atom Egoyan fresh from the Berlinale and Academy Award nominated sound designer Martín Hernández, all to give Masterclasses while in Qatar.
Read MoreMariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian announcing this year’s Competition & Encounters line up on Monday
All the latest Berlinale titles added to Competition and Encounters
While many of us may be concentrating on the awards announcements, the Berlin Film Festival reminds us where it all starts from, and why these worldwide events are so important. Dare I say, more than the awards…
Read MoreA still from ‘Mornings in Jenin’, a series project participating in this year’s Qumra event
The Doha Film Institute's Qumra 2021 goes global with its virtual edition
For film insiders the Qumra event — held once a year in Doha, Qatar and bringing together industry experts and filmmakers from all over the world — was always a highly anticipated time to put on our calendars. But in the age of pandemic, where we need all the inspiration we can get to simply continue onward, Qumra has become a lifeline.
Read MoreA still from Iran’s submission to the Oscars, ‘Sun Children’ by Majid Majidi
Doha's Ajyal Film Festival: Erasing some of the common borders of the Middle East, for a youth centric audience
I’ve long been a fan of everything that the Doha Film Institute has to offer. Their Qumra event is a phenomenal way to witness how filmmakers go about constructing their films, from pre-production to grants and securing funding to finish their projects. For a culture journalist, it’s a valuable way to experience, quite literally, how cinema is made.
But personally, the event that remains near and dear to my heart is always the Ajyal Film Festival.
Read MoreLessons learned from cinema and beyond: a wrap-up of the Rome Film Festival
There were films, fashion and public conversations with cinema celebrities. But beyond the red carpets, this year's Festa del cinema di Roma proved a meeting point for understanding the world around us, and sharing thoughts with like-minded people from faraway lands. Here is my personal diary of a wonderful event held in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Read MoreLa Pointe courte © 1994 Agnès Varda and her children - Montage and design : Flore Maquin
The Cannes Film Festival unveils its poster which pays tribute to the late, great Agnès Varda
As I learned at this year’s Qumra, held by the Doha Film Institute, the grand dame of French New Wave cinema Agnès Varda was all about finding the stories, the viewpoints that no one else would bother with. The Festival de Cannes, in its poster just unveiled for the 72nd edition of the festival, pays homage to La Varda but also to her indomitable spirit by showing the filmmaker on her first cinematic venture perched high up on a platform, atop the shoulders of a crew technician. She’s is looking to capture that image, that viewpoint which no one else would have even thought about. She is Varda, in all her perfectly humble and adventurous attitude. The same Varda who asked me, to my utter disbelief, if I’d liked her “little film” a few years ago in Cannes.
Read MoreA still from Hamida Issa’s ‘Places of the Soul’
The Qumra Diaries: Souq Waqif, "from desert to desert", Alice Rohrwacher and Kiyoshi Kurosawa
On my last day in Doha, I spend the afternoon wandering around the Souq Waqif which I learned from a local filmmaker, literally translates as “the stand up souk.” In the olden days, before Qatar turned into the international, cosmopolitan country it is today, the sea would come straight into the alleys of the souk so the merchants had to stand up and pick up their wares during the tides. Thus the name, and actually while I wandered around checking out the shops, having a shawl sewn from a traditional flower fabric by a local tailor while drinking a karak chai (cardamon infused milky tea) and eating a chapatti flat bread filled with zaatar, I felt like I was transported back to those early days of the pearl divers and their haunting songs of the sea.
Doha is special place. I’ll never get tired of saying it. And their annual Qumra event, organized by the Doha Film Institute is sheer cinematic magic. Qumra is a meeting place, a five-days long networking session, a place to pitch, secure financing and ensure a screening chance for film projects. But it is also an occasion to recharge our collective passion for the movies. For journalists, producers and of course filmmakers, the atmosphere at Qumra offers an almost electric energy, a jolt of renewed hope in the future of the 7th art.
Read MoreEugenio Caballero talks with Richard Peña during Qumra
The Qumra Diaries: Eugenio Caballero and Pawel Pawlikowski share their filmmaking wisdom
When I look at the title of this piece, I feel overwhelmed myself. I mean, it would be pretty wonderful to just hear one of the these two men who are such Maestros in each of their professions give a Masterclass. But when you get them both, within 24 hours of each other, on a stage, talking to the equally wondrous Richard Peña, well, you have cinematic magic.
Or more precisely, what you have is the Doha Film Institute’s annual Qumra event.
Read More