Film Financing MENA GRANTS 2012 The MENA Grants programme was created networking events, which were conducted to fulfil two of DFI’s primary objectives: with international sales agents, financing supporting filmmakers from the Arab world bodies, script consultants, distributors and in telling their stories; and contributing to producers relevant to the region. ongoing development and capacity building within the regional film industry in the Middle The second instalment of Doha Projects takes East and North Africa. place during the fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival with the participation of grantees In just over two years, we have supported more from the 2012 funding rounds. than 100 filmmakers in reaching their goals with funding across all stages of development. This ongoing programme aims to maximise These funds have been delivered to projects the full potential of DFI-funded film projects from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, by linking them with mentors who can provide Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Saudi practical guidance and take DFI’s support Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. beyond a one-time grant into the realm of This year, we welcome projects from the creative and strategic support for the lifecycle Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Kuwait for the of the project. first time. We welcome the many grantees and industry We are very proud to see the development experts who join us for Doha Projects, along of DFI-supported projects as they reach with the grantees whose films are competing in completion and, in many cases, go on to the DTFF Arab Film Competition – it is through acclaim at festival screenings and theatrical your participation and enthusiasm that we can releases in their own countries and around further contribute to building a strong regional the world. infrastructure to support Arab filmmakers. Last year, we launched Doha Projects, our industry programme, which saw more than 40 DFI grantees receive mentoring in all Abdulaziz Khalid Al-Khater facets of the film business through one-on- CEO, Doha Film Institute one meetings, plenary sessions, panels and November 2012, Doha Tribeca Film Festival table of contents

Feature Narrative 9 Feature Documentary 53 Short Narrative 89 Experimental / Essay 109 Feature Narrative Aicha Bonheur Algiers by Night (Experiment) Ali, The Goat, And Ibrahim The Bastard Blessed Benefit A Concert in Beirut The Day I Lost My Shadow Die Welt Ideal Love Line of Sight Marjoun And The Flying Headscarf Me, Myself And Murdoch Memories On Stone One Week Ago, Today Pillow Secrets Professor Red Valentine Shelter Terraces The Valley Wooden Rifle PRODUCTION DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 This tale follows the life paths of Hakim Belabbes was born and LTF Productions is a Moroccan Aicha Bonheur three characters, all of whom try raised in a small movie theatre film, video, animation and new ‘Aicha Bonheur’, Morocco, Qatar to achieve a goal through their in Bejjaad, Morocco. He lives media company, founded in 2009 solitude. I have been obsessed and works as an independent by CEO and Managing Director with the idea of whether we are filmmaker in Chicago. He has Latéfa El Berki. The organisation In Casablanca, a teenage girl who loves to run is seduced Hakim Belabbes masters of our destiny, or if we taught film at Chicago’s Columbia has collaborated on numerous by the promise of professional coaching and gear. Director / Screenwriter are merely puppets manipulated College and is now an Artist-in- Moroccan and international by a higher power. I question Residence at the School of the productions, with directors whether our will and character Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). including Hakim Belabbes, forge our path in life. I am not Gillaume Georget, Ali Essafi, inclined to favour one belief Nour-Eddine Lakhmari and James over the other as much as I am Sweetbaum. El Berki produced fascinated by the exploration Hakim Belabbes’ award-winning of both sides of the coin. feature films ‘Why O’ Sea’, Latéfa El Berki ‘These Hands’, ‘In Pieces’ and Producer ‘Boiling Dreams’. In addition to producing a number of local and international TV commercials, she has produced the non- fiction TV series ‘Oudmawen’ (‘Faces’) for Moroccan Television. She recently completed post- production on Hakim Belabbes’ latest feature film, ‘Imilchil: A Failed Attempt to Define Love’. Aïcha, a young long-distance runner, is pursuing her Olympic dream. Her brother Omar, a decent middle-aged man, is obsessed with the idea of becoming someone important some day, while their mother, who is losing her eyesight, struggles to retain her dignity. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $752,671 Financing already in place: $82,500 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Production Looking For: Contact • Financial partners LTF Productions Shooting Format: HD • Investors Rabat 2000 Runtime: 90 min • Grants Morocco Genre: Drama T: +212 656 252 801 Exhibition Format: DCP [email protected] Language: Arabic

10 11 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 ‘Algiers by Night’ is a work of Yanis Koussim is a self-taught Une Chambre à Soi Productions Algiers by Night fiction, though the project was filmmaker. His short films have gathers people from diverse born of the desire to make an been selected for international backgrounds who share the same impossible documentary. Talking festivals including Locarno, passion for film. We promote (experiment) about the Algerian people is like Cannes and Clermont-Ferrand. and develop Algerian cinema by talking about myself. I show pale He also wrote a collection of short supporting shorts, features and Yanis Koussim ‘Alger by Night (Experience)’, Algeria, Qatar Director / Screenwriter white walls, deserted streets and stories ‘The Coran According to documentaries. In addition, we avenues, and the lights of the city Amma and Mother Foussa’, which assist with theatrical production, The city comes alive at night with the stories of in-line that belong to me as the sun sets. was a finalist for the Mohamed training and distribution, skaters, middle-aged men, young women, insomniacs I look at the hidden face of this Dib Prize in 2002. He is currently technical capabilities and and party people. capital that reveals itself only to working on his first feature film. broadcasting. Our ambition those who know not to sleep. is to be part of the remodelling of Algerian cinema; a cinema deserted by contemporary Claire Mazeau Karoum topics and short on artistic Producer and technical skills due to a lack of schools specialising in film. Central to our vision is giving Algerian audiences the means to create their own representations. We strive to make going to the movies a cultural act. Une Chambre à Soi Productions avoids self-censorship by objectively showing Algerian work from past and present.

The sun sets over the Bay of Algiers. The city walls start to lose their shiny white, making room for the reality of the night, plain and lit by faded electric lights. Some young in-line skaters raid the streets of the capital, capturing video of themselves to post FINANCIAL INFORMATION on the Internet. A middle-aged man roams without purpose. A young prostitute starts her ‘night’. Some wealthy, idle Total Budget: $550,000 Production: young men go clubbing. A photographer speaks of her art. An Financing already in place: $350,000 • Doha Film Institute, Qatar insomniac woman is afraid to step out of her home. All tell their Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Institut Francais, France stories. Not all will see the sun rise. • Fund for the development of arts, techniques Development: and the cinema industry, Algeria Contact • Abu Dhabi Film Festival’s SANAD Une Chamber à Soi Productions Development fund, UAE Current Status: Production Claire Mazeau Karoum • FIDLab, Montpellier, France Looking For: 5 Rue des Frères El Hachemi Shooting Format: HD • Med Film Factory, Jordan • Additional funding of $200,000 El Biar Alger, Algeria Runtime: 90 min T: +213 550 538 738 Genre: Based on a True Story, Docufiction, Drama, History, Identity, [email protected] Religion, Social Issues, Women Issues, Youth www.ucaproductions.com Language: Arabic

12 13 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 ‘Ali, the Goat, and Ibrahim’ Ibrahim El Batout was born In 2010, Ein Shams Films Ali, the Goat, And Ibrahim has never been more relevant. in 1963 in Port-Said, and is produced its first feature film, It is a film about marginalised a graduate of the American Ibrahim El-Batout’s ‘Hawi’, which ‘Ali Mea’za’, Egypt, France, Germany, USA, Qatar, 2013 Egyptians trying to find a place University in Cairo in 1985, received the Best Arab Film for themselves in the world. where he majored in physics. award at the Doha Tribeca Film Ali, his goat and Ibrahim embark on a surreal journey looking Ibrahim El Batout Ali’s relationship with the goat, El Batout’s infatuation with the Festival in 2010. Ein Shams Films for hope. But the answers can only come from within. Director / Screenwriter Nada, sums up this generation’s camera started at the Video Cairo is now producing El-Batout’s ‘Ali, frustration and hopelessness. Production House, an agency the Goat, and Ibrahim’. Ali’s loss and healing is a that provides facilities for foreign metaphor of what Egyptians TV stations, where he worked as lost over the last 60 years, and a sound engineer. He began to the healing process they have experiment with filmmaking and had to go through. We feel directing, then worked for a year there is no better way to tell Ali at TV-Am, a British television Hossam Elouan and Ibrahim’s tragic story than station in Cyprus. Since then, Producer through humour, because we he has worked as a director, continue to see hope in the future producer and cameraman on of Egypt in spite of everything. 29 documentaries. He directed his first feature in 2005.

Ali refuses to accept the death of his girlfriend, Nada, and believes her soul has been reincarnated in a goat. His mother drags him to a healer who gives Ali stones to throw from the coasts of Egypt to reverse the ‘curse’. At the healer’s place, he meets Ibrahim, a depressed sound engineer who hears voices he cannot decipher. Ali, his goat and Ibrahim embark on a journey across Egypt, eventually forming a strong friendship, but Ali feels betrayed when Ibrahim tries to drown himself. FINANCIAL INFORMATION He returns to Cairo and is attacked by thugs. Ibrahim finally forces Ali to meet Nada’s parents so that his emotional Total Budget: $950,000 • GlobalFilm Initiative Honorable Mention wounds can be healed. Financing already in place: $303,000 Award, USA Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Egyptian Ministry of Culture • Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Lebanon Current Status: Production Contact • ARTE France Cinéma Award Looking For: Ein Shams Films • Région Languedoc Roussillon • Financiers Hossam Elouan • Cinemed Awards, France 16 Street 44, 5h Floor, Diplomats Shooting Format: HD • Laboratoires Éclair, France Quarter, Mokattam Runtime: 90 min • EZEF, Germany Cairo, Egypt Genre: Comedy, Drama T: +201060528732 Exhibition Format: 35 mm [email protected] Language: Arabic

14 15 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 A scriptwriting duo, we have Uda Benyamina is a director, Tonie Marhsall founded Tabo The Bastard known each other since we were screenwriter and actress who Tabo Films in 1993 to produce her teenagers growing up in the graduated from ERAC (the own films. The success of ‘Venus ‘La Bâtarde’, Morocco, France, Qatar, 2014 southern suburbs of Paris. School for Regional Actors in Beauty Institute’ (1999) – the film We lived in the projects and Cannes). She has also studied took home four César Awards – An angry teenage girl from the projects dreams of being a Uda Benyamina came of age there. Since at the Academy of Minsk, the allowed the company to expand. gangster. A meeting with a young dancer will force her to Director / Screenwriter childhood, we have both Ontological Theater and the Since 2008, Tabo Tabo has been rethink her deepest convictions. witnessed numerous acts of Actors’ Studio. She has directed helping young directors transition rebellion. There were even riots, nine short films on video which from short films to feature like those in 2005, but they never have won awards at numerous projects. Today, the company amounted to more than a bit of festivals and been broadcast produces films for the big screen entertaining television. Recently, on TV. A committed artist, she as well as made-for-TV movies we have noticed a new trend: co-founded the ‘1000 Visages’ and documentaries. The one girls setting trash cans on fire, association to democratise thing all our projects share: the Hamid Hlioua insulting the police, stoning buses cinema. desire to support writer-directors Producer and getting into cat fights. Why who have a strong personal do these angry young women vision of today’s world. behave in ways more commonly attributed to men? Through our film, we want to understand who they are.

After she is thrown out of high school, Dounia spends her time hanging out at the mall. Raised by a single mother who looks for love in all the wrong places, Dounia is one angry teenager. She and her best friend Manuela steal, tag or burn anything they can get their hands on. Together, they fantasise about becoming the most feared gangsters in the projects. But when Dounia finds herself gazing into the eyes of Lucas, a young dancer, her FINANCIAL INFORMATION resolve wavers. They have nothing in common, but everything about him attracts her. Torn between her thirst for power and Total Budget: $2,450,000 her feelings for Lucas, Dounia must make a choice. Financing already in place: $68,162 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Easy Tiger, France • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Contact Current Status: Development Tabo Tabo Films Looking For: Hamid Hlioua • Potential partners 53 rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine • Post-production opportunities Paris, France • Sales agents T: +33149294550 Genre: Drama [email protected] Language: French

16 17 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 Recent revolutions in the Arab Mahmoud Al Massad, a Jo Image is an independent Blessed Benefit world have focused attention Jordanian filmmaker, has production company established on issues like unemployment, received international critical in 2004, and is one of the leading ‘Inshallah Estafadit’, Jordan, Netherlands, Germany, UAE, France, Qatar corruption and poverty. My acclaim for his documentaries production companies based first narrative feature, ‘Blessed ‘Shatter Hassan’, ‘Recycle’ and in Amman. The company was During Ramadan, a man sentenced for a minor financial Mahmoud Al Massad Benefit’, is a story of these ‘This Is My Picture When I Was created and is run by producer misdemeanour discovers peace and morality in prison. Director struggles told through the eyes Dead’, while reaching large Omar Massad, the brother of Ahmad. It is a humorous, audiences in the West, Eastern of award-winning filmmaker self-critical film, an observational Europe and the Middle East. His Mahmoud Al Massad. Jo documentary in which Ahmad’s feature films ‘Recycle’ and ‘This Images produces and co- reality is set in a fictionalised Is My Picture When I Was Dead’ produces international projects, context. The theme is similar were internationally financed which reach large audiences to those in my previous films, and received support from the in the Western world, Eastern which centre on the morality of Sundance Documentary Institute. Europe and the Middle East. Dima Hamdallah individuals and the choices they ‘Recycle’ received the World Both ‘Recycle’ and ‘This Is Producer make between what is considered Cinema Cinematography award My Picture When I Was Dead’ right and wrong, particularly at Sundance 2008 and screened were internationally financed in our evolving Arab world. at more than 70 international and received support from the However, the theme of ‘Blessed film festivals. It was theatrically Sundance Documentary Institute. Benefit’ is influenced released in several European ‘Recycle’ was awarded the by the troubled protagonist’s countries and sold to ITVS World Cinema Cinematography deep desire for pleasure. Independent Lens (USA). ‘This award at Sundance in 2008 and Is My Picture When I Was Dead’ screened at over 70 international premiered at IDFA 2010 and won film festivals. It was theatrically the Best Documentary Award at released in several European Ahmad is unexpectedly arrested for not delivering JOD1,800 the Dubai International countries and sold to ITVS ($2,500) worth of work to one of his clients. He has lent the Film Festival. Independent Lens (USA). money to his uncle for a shady laptop deal and the chance to turn a small profit. This turns into a four-month stint in prison. Frightened for his family and worried about an ambiguous future among cons and fraudsters, Ahmad spends his days in prison waiting for his uncle to sell the laptops. The circle of sales goes from one fraudster to another, and Ahmad eventually loses FINANCIAL INFORMATION both the money and the laptops. Ahmad’s straightforwardness, sense of humour and geniality help him make friends and find Total Budget: $1,200,000 Current Status: Production tranquility in the daily rhythm of prison life – something he Financing already in place: $780,000 Looking For: becomes afraid to lose. Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Financial and co-production support • Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, Germany Contact • Royal Film Comission, Jordan Jo Image • Abu Dhabi Film Commission’s Shasha Grant, Mahmoud Al Massad UAE Wasfi el Tal St 20 • iSee film, The Netherlands Amman, Jordan Shooting Format: HD • Doha Film Institute, Qatar T: +316 1816 5310 Runtime: 90 min [email protected] Genre: Dark Comedy, Drama, Family, Friendship, Social Issues www.blessedbenefit.com Exhibition Format: Unknown Language: Arabic

18 19 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 Having already made several Born in Beirut, Nadim Tabet Né à Beyrouth was initially A Concert in Beirut short films dealing with the developed an interest in cinema a Lebanese film festival, youth and alternative music from a young age, first by organised for the first time in ‘Un concert à Beyrouth’, Lebanon, France, Qatar scenes in Lebanon, I wanted watching numerous films, then August 2001, which has grown ‘A Concert in Beirut’ to synthesise by shooting short fictional films to become an institution and a Amira and her friends plan a concert in Beirut to help pay for Nadim Tabet my research and become an of his own. In 1999, he went meeting point for all Lebanese their own apartment and independence. Life has other plans Director / Screenwriter accomplished feature film. to France to pursue studies in filmmakers and moviegoers. for them. By talking about youth, it is as philosophy, history and cinema at The producers and directors Wif I want to take an ideal starting the Sorbonne. In parallel to who organised the festival point to flesh out some of the his studies, he directed numerous decided to create a production complexity of Lebanese society. short films on Super 8mm and company under the same name, Besides the relationship between HD. In 2001, Nadim Tabet was to participate in the rebirth of generations, other contrasts are a founding member of the Lebenese national cinema and found everywhere in Lebanon. Lebanese Film Festival. Since offer better support for new Wadih Safieddine I am also concerned by the Arab 2011, he has selected films for the talents. The company also Producer Spring and the major changes Oberhausen International Film develops content for television, taking place in the region. The Festival. He is currently preparing music videos and corporate films, only certitude I have is that a his first feature film, ‘A Concert and is recognised as a force in huge part of this rebellion is in Beirut’. the world of local, regional and the result of unrest among Arab international advertising. youth.

Eighteen-year-old Amira is organizing a rock concert to be held in Luna Park. Two days before the event, her grandfather, a former Christian militia leader, dies. But Amira, who was born after the war, was never interested in her grandfather’s past, intends to organise the concert at any cost. She tries to make her dream come true while she deals with taboo revelations about her family’s past. Her wanderings are also an opportunity FINANCIAL INFORMATION to enter Beirut’s underground scene and discover other young people who gravitate towards the concert. Total Budget: $480,000 Financing already in place: $205,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Private Investors • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Moby Dick Films, France Contact ..né.à Beyrouth Productions Current Status: Production Wadih Safieddine Shooting Format: HD Looking For: Beirut, Lebanon Runtime: 90 min • Additional funding T: +961 362 9528 Genre: About Family, Drama, Friendship, Identity, Music, Romance, [email protected] Social Issues, Youth www.neabeyrouth.org Language: Arabic, French

20 21 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE FEATURE Narrative Spring Grant 2012 This film is written in a Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian Over the last 25 years, Paul The Day I Lost My Shadow country where tomorrow is director, born in France in Saadoun has produced hundreds an unimaginable idea. What 1979. She studied theatre of films, documentaries or ‘Endama Adaa’to Zelli’, Syria, France, Qatar is tomorrow if you are living criticism at the Higher Institute television dramas, many of under constant threat of shelling, of Dramatic Arts in Syria, and which were international co- Between water outages and power cuts, all Sana dreams Soudade Kaadan alternating between the relief of graduated from Saint Joseph productions. He has produced of is a hot shower. She takes a day off from her two jobs to Director / Screenwriter being missed by falling bombs University Institut des Etudes films by directors including Paul search for a gas cylinder. and the grief of realising they Scéniques, Audiovisuelles et Cowan, Peter Watkins, Béla Tarr, may have hit someone else? Cinématographiques (IESAV) Jean-Louis Comolli and Luc Tomorrow becomes a luxury; in Lebanon. She has directed Moullet. Many of his films have this is why this film does not try and produced documentary been selected for renowned to predict or even talk about the films for Al Jazeera Documentary international festivals (Cannes, future. It limits itself to three days Channel, UNDP and UNICEF. Hot Docs, Gemini, Amsterdam, in Sana’s life, a precise moment Her films have screened New York, etc.) and have won Paul Saadoun in the history of Damascus. nationally and internationally, various awards. Saadoun recently Producer At the beginning of 2011, and she has received numerous created the company Seconde I decided I would never again international awards. Currently, Vague Productions to continue use metaphors, symbols or poetic she is working on her first to expand this portfolio of work. images. I took an oath not to go feature-length fiction film. back to the indirect messages and suggestive cinematographic language that was dominant in Syria for 30 years.

Sana doesn’t care about the Arab Spring. She has to work two jobs to support her family. She tries to organise her daily life between the water outages and power cuts. All she dreams of is a hot shower. So she takes a day off and goes out searching for a place to buy a bottle of gas. She returns home three days later, having forgotten her shadow. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $1,046,572.44 Financing already in place: $19,623.22 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Contact Current Status: Development KAF Looking For: Soudade Kaadan • International co-production and co-financing Mezzeh West Villas-Ghazzawi Shooting Format: HD support Street Runtime: 90 min Damascus, Syria Genre: About Family, Drama, Fantasy, Female Director, Politics, Social T: +961 7643 0337 Issues, War, Women, Women Interest, Women Issues [email protected] Language: Arabic

22 23 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 ‘Die Welt’ – that’s what the Alex Pitstra was born in Alex Pitstra started producing Die Welt Tunisian Mohsen Ben Hassen Dordrecht, The Netherlands, in and directing films in 2005. With calls Europe. Tunisia is almost 1979, to a Tunisian father and a seven years of experience on ‘Die Welt’, Tunisia, Netherlands, Qatar, 2012 relegated to limbo status. And Dutch mother. He made his first large and small productions, Mohsen should know: he lived film at 15, but worked in music he embarked on his feature debut For Abdallah and many Tunisians, Europe still represents a land Karim Alexander Pitstra in the Netherlands for a couple production before setting up ‘Die Welt’. For this film, he acts where freedom and riches are easily obtained – and it seems Director / Screenwriter / Producer of years and fathered a child with his own production company to as producer and director. closer than ever after his encounter with a Dutch woman a Dutch woman. He fathered make commercials, installations Alex Pitstra Media is based in vacationing in a Tunisian sea resort. another child in Switzerland and corporate films. He has Groningen, the Netherlands, and before returning to Tunisia. also worked as a director of ‘Die Welt’ was co-produced with Nowadays he is a devout Muslim. photography. ‘Die Welt’ is his Schaftkip Films, an independent Mohsen is my father. Because first feature-length film. Dutch production company, with I grew up without him, I have Rene Houwen acting as co- taken my mother’s surname. producer and Thijs Gloger I don’t have many memories of as co-writer, DOP and co-editor. Mohsen. He taught me how to ride a bike: I do remember that. And I remember him fighting with my mother. Seven years ago, I received a letter from him. He asked if I would come to see him in Tunisia. I had no idea what to expect.

Die Welt is an audacious hybrid between fiction and documentary, showing contemporary Tunisia shortly after the Jasmine Revolution in 2011. In this insightful moral drama about a society in the vacuum between dictatorship and democracy, we follow the young DVD salesman Abdallah, who becomes increasingly frustrated by his inability to realize a fulfilling existence for himself. After meeting the Dutch tourist FINANCIAL INFORMATION Anna, he starts dreaming of a better life in Europe, or Die Welt, as his father calls the promised land on the other side of the Total Budget: $461,321 Current Status: Completed Mediterranean. Will Abdallah succeed—like his father did in Financing already in place: $445,120 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Sales agents the past—in getting to Europe with the help of a Dutch woman? • Estheticon BV, The Netherlands • European and North American festival Or will he have to find another way to escape his native country? • Netherlands Film Fund programmers Contact And does he want to leave at all? • Van Bijleveltstichting, The Netherlands • Arab distributors Alex Pitstra Media • Dutch Embassy in Tunis • Arab TV stations (buyers) Karim Alexander Pitstra • Groninger Forum, The Netherlands • Additional funding for marketing and P&A Jacobstraat 13 Shooting Format: HD • Cinecrowd.nl (crowd-funding platform) Groningen, Netherlands Runtime: 80 min • Anneke Pitstra (private investor) T: +31 652 613 513 Genre: Docufiction, Drama, Immigration, Politics, Social Issues • Doha Film Institute, Qatar [email protected] Exhibition Format: HDCAM www.alexpitstra.nl Language: Arabic, Dutch, English

24 25 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 The subject of my second Dima El-Horr was born in 1972 ANDOLFI is an independent film Ideal Love feature film imposed itself on in Beirut. In 1995, she left for production company founded me, and somehow the urge to the US to study, and received in 2001. It produces short films, ‘L’ Amour idéal’, Lebanon, France, Qatar write it invaded me. Through it, a Masters of Fine Arts in documentaries and features of Tamara had to become a fictional Filmmaking from the School of various international filmmakers. Tamara, an attractive and sparkling biology professor, Dima El-Horr character, and Beirut, with its the Art Institute of Chicago. Her ANDOLFI is always willing to gets a taste of what could be love, and reconsiders Director contradictions, the setting of senior film, ‘The Street’, was work on new narrative and emigrating from Lebanon. the quest for an ideal love. selected for 30 international film cinematographic forms. festivals and won several prizes. Her second short film, ‘Prêt-à- porter Imm Ali’, was selected for many international film festivals, including Clermont- Ferrand, and won numerous Arnaud Dommerc prizes, including the Antigone Producer d’Or at the Mediterranean Film Festival in Montpellier. Her first feature film, ‘Every Day Is a Holiday’ was selected for the Toronto Internatioanl Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Rome International Film Festival, and more than 30 others, receiving the Jury Prize at the Cinematographic Days Tamara, sexy and sparkling, is a professor of biology at the of Carthage. American University of Beirut. She also experiences panic attacks, collects love affairs, hangs out in bars and listens to rock music. Both running from and searching for an ideal love, Tamara dreams of emigrating far from the social and political constraints of Lebanon, and escaping her mother’s constant blackmail. A bright spot illuminates her life when she meets FINANCIAL INFORMATION Eddy, a loving man whose personality is similar to her own. A car bomb that explodes in the heart of Beirut shifts Tamara’s Total Budget: $900,000 focus. She witnesses the cruelty of politics, the injustice Financing already in place: $14,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): of medical services, and the poverty and lost youth in the • Abbout Productions, Georges Schoucair, Palestinian camps. Lebanon Contact Andolfi Production Current Status: Development Arnaud Dommerc Looking For: 9, rue des Cascades Shooting Format: HD • Arab television pre-sales Paris, France Runtime: 100 min • Additional production financing T: +33 6 16 96 21 43 Genre: Comedy, Female Director, Women [email protected] Exhibition Format: DCP2K www.andolfi.fr Language: Arabic

26 27 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 How much of what we say is the Aseel Mansour is a Jordanian- The Royal Film Commission – Line of Sight truth? How much of what we see Palestinian filmmaker. Born in Jordan (RFC) was established is deception? How many layers Baghdad in 1977, he moved to in 2003, with a mandate to ‘Ala Mad Al Basar’, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, 2012 must be stripped away from Amman in 1991. He received contribute to the development every story before we uncover a Masters degree in media of an internationally competitive A woman points a gun at a car thief. She needs to retrieve Aseel Mansour its reality? How many masks do psychology from Walden Jordanian audio-visual industry memories from her car; he needs an ear and some money. Director / Screenwriter we wear just to survive in our University in Minneapolis in through the advancement of everyday life? These questions 2010. He is currently directing human, technical and financial form the core theme of ‘Line ‘Line of Sight’, his first feature, capacities. In addition, it aims of Sight’, a suspense drama in Jordan, through the Royal to provide comprehensive about an unlikely night-long Film Commission’s Educational production support services to confrontation between two Film Program. He is also the local, regional and international people who are completely winner of the Amman Filmmakers productions. The RFC’s Capacity different, apart from their Cooperative’s Award Best Building initiatives have played a Cindy Le Templier instinct to survive. Filmmaker of the Year (2004) key role in strengthening Jordan’s Producer for his film ‘Alert Guns’. film infrastructure and raising local and international interest in the film industry in recent years. In 2009, the RFC launched the Educational Feature Film Program. Within the framework of a feature film and under professional mentorship, this initiative is designed to provide an educational and hands-on The film opens with a single shot showing a confrontation experience for everyone involved. between Laila and Sami. Laila, a 22-year-old woman is standing More importantly, it gives on a balcony on the first floor of her villa, pointing a gun at Sami, Jordanians the chance to a 25-year-old man standing in the street. They are locked in this tell Wtheir stories. confrontation since Laila cannot let Sami out of her sight. The film then travels through two opposing timelines: one follows the near-real-time confrontation and its escalation; the other exposes the history of the two characters. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $380,912 Financing already in place: $239,418 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • The Royal Film Commission, Jordan • Enjaaz – Dubai Filmart, UAE • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Contact Current Status: Completed Shashat Multimedia Productions Shooting Format: HD Looking For: Cindy Le Templier Runtime: 90 min • Sales agents Amman, Jordan Genre: Drama, Suspense • Distributors T: +962 798 975 546 Exhibition Format: DCP [email protected] Language: Arabic

28 29 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 No muhajiba coming-of-age ‘Habibi’, Susan Youssef’s first S.Y. Films produced ‘Habibi’, Marjoun and the Flying fiction feature has ever been feature, which she wrote, directed Susan Youssef’s first feature. produced – not in the US, not and produced, was selected for Producers at S.Y. Films include in the UK, France or anywhere. the 2011 Venice and Toronto film Youssef and Man Kit Lam. Headscarf This is the first fiction feature festivals. The film won four prizes Susan Youssef to handle a young woman’s at the Dubai International Film Director / Producer ‘Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf’, decision to cover. Veiling needs Festival, including Best Film and Lebanon, Netherlands, USA, Qatar, 2014 to be addressed at this time of the International Critics’ prize. discrimination and even hate For her work on ‘Habibi’, With her father imprisoned on dubious terrorist-related crimes against Muslim women ‘Filmmaker’ magazine named charges, a Lebanese-American teenager in Arkansas in Western countries. For Youssef one of the 25 New Faces instance, muhajiba Shaima to Watch, and ‘Arabian Business’ searches for her identity by wearing the headscarf and Alawdi was beaten to death in ranked her at number 25 in the riding a motorcycle. March 2012 in San Diego. This 100 Most Powerful Arab Women. Man Kit Lam feature relates not only to my Prior to ‘Habibi’, Youssef made Producer short by the same name which five short films, which have premiered at Sundance, but also screened at such venues as the to my first feature, ‘Habibi’, which Sundance Film Festival and the also explored coming of age Museum of Modern Art. in Muslim society, specifically from the perspective of a young female.

Marjoun is a 17-year-old outsider in Little Rock, Arkansas. She’s FINANCIAL INFORMATION a goth; writes poems on a typewriter; and her dad is in prison for alleged terrorist connections. Her uncle comes to live with Total Budget: $3,500,000 Current Status: Development her family to help out with their convenience store. The uncle Financing already in place: $90,000 Looking For: and Marjoun have a history together and this increasingly Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Script feedback troubles her. As her sanity is threatened, Marjoun explores her • Emerging Visions Mentorship Programme • Production, sales and distribution contacts identity as a Muslim and her relationship with God, and decides from IFP & Lincoln Center, USA • S.Y. Films, France to wear a headscarf. When she learns her father will never come • Doha Film Institute, Qatar home, she runs away. Contact Susan Youssef T: +31617395488 Genre: Coming of Age, Immigration, Middle Eastern, Social Issues, [email protected] Women Interest www.habibithefilm.com Language: English

30 31 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 Six years ago, while I was Independent filmmaker Yahya The Imaginarium Films is a Me, Myself and Murdoch studying in Paris, I encountered Alabdallah was born in Libya in Jordanian production house that the question of how to verify my 1978 and raised in Saudi Arabia. creates original audio-visual ‘Me, Myself and Murdoch’, Jordan, Palestine, Qatar, 2013 Palestinian identity, since I hold He is a writer, director, producer content with an entertaining edge a Jordanian passport and don’t and literary critic with a Masters that is captivating to audiences After an accident, a young Palestinian wakes up with total Yahya Alabdallah have any papers to prove I am degree in literature and film from regionally and internationally. The amnesia – and able to speak only Hebrew… Director / Screenwriter Palestinian. The legal situation the EICAR film school in Paris. company was established by Rula of Palestinians is close to a He has written and directed Nasser, who produced the first much-cited phrase associated several shorts, including ‘SMS’ two educational feature film with with the movement to establish (2008), which screened at the the Royal Film Commission. Both a Jewish homeland in Palestine: 38th International Film Festival Mohammad Al Hushki’s ‘Transit ‘A land without a people for a Rotterdam, Tangier and Osian’s- Cities’ and Yahya Alabdallah people without a land’. From Cinefan. Alabdallah’s first feature, ‘The Last Friday’ saw great this confusion, the idea for this ‘The Last Friday’ (2011) showed success and won many awards Rula Nasser film was born. Ahmad loses his at many festivals, including the internationally. The company’s Producer identity when he loses his ability Dubai International Film Festival, current slate of work includes to speak Arabic. The story is a where it won won three awards; Bassam Chekes’s ‘Waiting for reflection of what happens to Fribourg 2012, where it won the POBOX’; Mais Dawrazah’s ‘My all Palestinian exiles, who have Special Jury Award; and the 2012 Love Awaits Me by the Sea’; to prove not only that Palestine Berlinale Forum. Riqfi Assag’s ‘The Curve’; and exists but also, to their families Alabdallah’s ‘Me, Myself and who stayed behind, that they still Murdoch’. carry the Palestinian spirit and soul.

Ahmad is a 22-year-old Palestinian from a religious family in Hebron. With his friend Issa, he steals petrol from the nearby Israeli settlement to run the only ambulance in town. Secretly, he is learning Hebrew in case he needs it for the gasoline- stealing trips. But then he is hit by a car and falls into a coma. When he wakes, he finds he can only speak Hebrew. His father thinks that he is haunted by an Israeli settler; his former girlfriend doubts his patriotism and goes off with a young man FINANCIAL INFORMATION in the resistance; and his community thinks he has become a settler. Total Budget: $901,000 Financing already in place: $15,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • The Imaginarium Films, Jordan Contact • Doha Film Institute, Qatar The Imaginarium Films Rula Nasser Current Status: Development Weibdeh district , Shareea Str m Looking For: Bldg 5, PO Box 910579 • Co-producers Amman, Jordan • Sales, marketing and promotional support T: +962 795 520 056 [email protected] Genre: Comedy, Dramedy theimaginariumfilms.com Language: Arabic, Hebrew

32 33 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 After having filmed ‘Crossing the Shawkat Amin Korki was born The aim of mîtosfilm is to support Memories on Stone Dust’ and ‘Kick Off’ in post-war in 1973. Originally from Zakho authentic storytelling, producing Iraq, it became clear to me that in Iraqi Kurdistan, he and his thought-provoking feature and ‘Memories on Stone’, I would one day have to make family fled from Iraq’s military documentary films. Through Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Germany, France, Qatar, 2013 a movie about making a film dictatorship to Iran in 1975, where international co-productions, in Kurdistan. What happened they lived in exile for 25 years. we strive to reach audiences Shawkat Amin Korki Kurdish childhood friends Hussein and Alan direct and Director / Screenwriter behind the camera was often There, Korki studied cinema. In around the world, as well as produce a film about the Al Anfal genocide. To do so, they more gripping a story than what 2006, following many award- to develop local cinema in co- have to put everything on the line – even their own lives. happened in front of it. Death winning short films, he gained operation with the Ministry of threats from terrorist groups, international recognition with Culture in Kurdistan. Since 2004, lack of equipment, months of the completion of his debut our Berlin-based sister company searching for a female lead… feature film in Iraqi Kurdistan, mîtosfilm has helped launch First and foremost, ‘Memories ‘Crossing the Dust’, and his regional filmmakers on their way on Stones’ is a film about cinema. follow-up feature, ‘Kick Off’. to international success with such Mehmet Aktas And, through all the hardship He now lives and works in films as ‘Dol’ by Hiner Saleem Screenwriter / Producer and adversity it portrays, it is still Erbil, Iraq. (Berlinale Forum 2007), ‘Land the love and passion for cinema of Legends’ by Rahim Zabihi that prevail. (Locarno 2008) and ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ by Bahman Ghobadi (opening film in Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2009).

After Saddam’s loss of power in Iraq, childhood friends Alan and Hussein decide to produce a film about the Al Anfal Kurdish genocide. But making a film in post-war Kurdistan isn’t easy, and the most difficult task of all is finding a lead actress. Then they find Sinor: young, beautiful and passionate about the project. But Sinor cannot decide on her own: her cousin Haval and his FINANCIAL INFORMATION father, Uncle Hamid, control her fate. As they run out of time and money, Alan and Hussein sacrifice everything to keep Total Budget: $843,448 Current Status: Production filming. Then, in a tragic twist, Hussein is stabbed by Haval Financing already in place: $581,472 Looking For: during the shooting of the final scene. Now the biggest question Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Production and post-production partners of all is: will the film ever reach the screen? • Cultural Ministry of Kurdistan Regional • Additional financing Contact Government • Partners who will strengthen the participation mitosfilm-iraq • Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, Germany of Qatar and other Middle East countries in Shawkat Amin Korki • Vision Sud-Est, Switzerland this project and further projects of mitosfilm- Einkawa Roads, beside Nadin • The Post Republic, Germany iraq Muteqqadin Shooting Format: HD • Arizona Film, France Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan Region Runtime: 100 min • Asia–Pacific Screen Award, Australia T: +9647503136447 Genre: Drama, Dramedy, Social Issues • Doha Film Institute, Qatar [email protected] Exhibition Format: 35 mm www.mitosfilm-iraq.com Language: Arabic, Kurdish

34 35 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 For our second feature in Named as one of the One Week Ago, Today Lebanon, we aim to expand on 25 faces of independent themes, ideas and styles that we Film by Filmmakers Magazine ‘El Jem3am El Madyesh Mitl El Yom’, Lebanon, USA, France, Qatar began experimenting with in our in 2011, Rania Attieh is from previous film. We will seek once Tripoli, Lebanon. She is an An aging prostitute takes charge of a young man with Rania Attieh again to cast non-professional MFA graduate in media art and amnesia who returns to his senile father. Director / Screenwriter / Producer actors and revisit family ties and works as a writer/ director of responsibilities – themes typical Fiction from the City College of Lebanese society. We turn our of New York. She is currently gaze on the societal prejudice participating in the CPH-DOX and stigmas used on Eastern lab in Copenhagen. ‘Ok, Enough, European women, who are often Goodbye’ was her first feature classed as prostitutes. We are film. She also made a short interested in setting the film in commission for the Sharjah Daniel Garcia a small fishing town in the heart Art Biennial in 2011. Director / Screenwriter of a Greek Orthodox community, during the holy week of Easter.

Off the coast of a small fishing town in the south of Lebanon, a man in his 40s is found unconscious in a boat. He has amnesia and remembers absolutely nothing about who he is, or where he came from. After he is recognised by one of the fishermen, he is taken back to his home, where he is reunited with his aging father, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Both men are now strangers to each other but are forced to interact like family. Meanwhile, the son struggles with the chore of trying FINANCIAL INFORMATION to remember his life, the possibility that he attempted suicide, and with caring for the man who is supposed to be his father. Total Budget: $250,000 Their only tie to the outside world is their neighbour, an aging, Financing already in place: $22,000 lonely Russian woman who is rumoured to be a prostitute, and Financial Partners (already confirmed): who voluntarily inserts herself into their lives, attempting to • Doha Film Institute, Qatar reconstruct their past and organize their future. It’s Easter Current Status: Development week, and a nationwide fear of a tsunami is rising. Looking For: • Financiers Contact Shooting Format: HD • Co-producers Rania Attieh Runtime: 90 min T: +1 917 582 0556 Genre: About Family, Dark Comedy, Female Director [email protected] Language: Arabic www.enpassantfilm.com

36 37 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 A film is, above all, a picture that Jillali Ferhati was born in Pillow Secrets is listened to, carrying in itself its 1947 in Khémisset, Morocco. own music. For me, this movie is He studied literature in Paris, ‘Sarirou Al Assrar’, Morocco, Qatar, 2013 about character; it is an actors’ and is a screenwriter, producer movie, and it is they who will give and actor who has appeared in A young woman who runs an orphanage is summoned by the Jillali Ferhati the film emotion, authenticity a dozen films. police to identify a body. Director / Screenwriter / Producer and life. That is why I do not want to interfere too much: I will just watch them live in long takes, bearing in mind that I will need several frames within the same shot, along with all the details that will eventually make the movie I have long hoped for.

When she recognises the body of the woman who was her mother, a young woman is drawn violently back into her past. She lived in the ‘Big House’ with her mother, Zahia. It was a boarding house converted into a brothel, which Zahia ruled with an iron fist – just as she ruled the whole neighbourhood. The little girl was known locally as the daughter of Zahia, the prostitute. From Mouy Rahma and her husband, she discovers who she really is – on the very day her mother chose to tell her FINANCIAL INFORMATION everything. Total Budget: $1,039,348 Current Status: Production Financing already in place: $858,196 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Post-production assistance • Multi Joining Services, Morocco • Promotion and distribution in MENA region • Héraclès Production, Morocco and internationally • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Contact Heracles Production Jillali Ferhati 7, rue Fenikienne Shooting Format: 35mm Tanger, Morocco Runtime: 90 min T: +212539930811 Genre: Drama [email protected] Language: Arabic

38 39 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 The love story depicted in this Born in 1947, Mahmoud Ben Familia Productions is a theatre Professor film is purely imaginary. However, Mahmoud studied cinema in and audio-visual production it unfolds against the backdrop Belgium in the 70s. His films company founded in 1992 by ‘Al Oustadh’, Tunisia, France, Qatar, 2012 of a specific time, Tunisia in include the music documentary actress Jalila Baccar, director the 70s, in order to shed light ‘Les Mille et une voix’ in 2000 Fadhel Jaïbi and producer When the student with whom he has been having an Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud on an important period of our and three features: ‘Traversées’ Mohamed Habib Bel Hedi. Its extramarital affair is jailed for her political views, a professor Director / Screenwriter contemporary history that has (1982), ‘ChichKhan’ (1992) and objective is to carry on the work working for the Tunisian government finds his career and his been forgotten by younger ‘Les Siestes grenadine’, which of the Nouveau Théâtre, the first family life in jeopardy. ‘Professor’ s a vigorous examination of generations. Tunisia was led by won the Special Jury Prize independent theatre company the state of human rights in Tunisia during the 70s. Habib Bourguiba, who appointed in Turin in 1999. He currently in Tunisia, and the efforts of the himself president for life while teaches screenwriting at the Nouveau Films company, which his regime kept an iron grip on Université Libre in Brussels. produced award-winning films. the country. But the end of the The company is credited with 70s was also marked by a major a diverse and eclectic production Mohamed Habib Bel Hedi political development with the slate for both stage and film. Producer birth of the Human Rights League Central to its vision is bringing in 1977, a first in an Arab or different art forms together, African country that stirred up encouraging collaboration and an unprecedented wave of hope nurturing artists. Its latest theatre among progressive circles in production, produced for the re- Tunisia. opening of the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris, has travelled all over the world, and the company’s latest film, ‘Démences’, won awards in Fribourg, Montreal and Nantes.

In 1977, Khalil Khalsawi, a constitutional law teacher in Tunis, is commissioned by the governing party to represent the new Tunisian League for human rights. His mission consists of defending official positions while dealing with tensions between the government and the workers union. His world is shaken FINANCIAL INFORMATION when he discovers that Houda, one of his students with whom he is having an extramarital relationship, has been arrested Total Budget: $1,005,000 Current Status: Completed with two Italian journalists, who are investigating strikes in Financing already in place: $890,000 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Sales Agent the phosphate mines. • Tunisian Ministry of Culture • TV sales • International Organisation of • Distributors La Francophonie, France • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Shooting Format: Digital Runtime: 90 min Genre: Documentary Exhibition Format: DCP Language: English

40 41 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 I feel that Middle Eastern films Jordan-born, US-raised Amin Paper & Pen Films is a Jordanian Red Valentine have generally been relegated Matalqa graduated from the film finance company founded to festivals without much American Film Institute with in 2007 by Amin Matalqa and his ‘Yom Il-Hob’, Jordan, Qatar, 2013 commercial exposure because an MFA in directing in 2007. His mother, Aida Jabaji Matalqa, with they tend to be too dramatic. first feature film, ‘Captain Abu the backing of a group of private A young socialite who thinks he’s a poet is reunited with his Amin Matalqa I am guilty of that myself with Raed’, won the World Cinema equity investors headed by Isam emotional ex-fiancée as they spend Valentine’s Day chasing Director / Screenwriter / Producer my first film, ‘Captain Abu Raed’. Audience Award at the Sundance Salfiti. The company’s first project after his poetry book, which has been stolen along with Despite its festival success and Film Festival in 2008 and became was the Sundance-winning his Ferrari. a limited commercial Jordan’s first entry in the foreign film ‘Captain Abu Raed’. Off the international release, the film Oscars. His second film, ‘The success of ‘Captain’, the follow- was considered an arthouse United’ (due out soon) is Disney’s up project they co-financed is indie. With ‘Red Valentine’, my first Arab-language film. Before Matalqa’s American comedy, intention is to go back to the idea studying at AFI, Matalqa directed ‘Strangely in Love’. The name of making a film for entertainment 27 short films in the US and Paper & Pen Films originated purposes. Now more than ever, Jordan. Matalqa lives in Los from the idea that good films are audiences want to go to the Angeles and is now completing about stories, and good stories movies to laugh and escape from post-production on his third film, are developed with the simplicity the grim reality they are living in. ‘Strangely in Love’, an American of a paper and a pen. Thus, my intention is to make a comedy based on Dostoevsky’s fun rollercoaster ride that doesn’t 1848 novella, ‘White Nights’. take itself too seriously. That’s really the significance of ‘Red Valentine’. While it’s easy for someone to dismiss a comedy as unimportant, commercial Arab cinema still leaves much to be desired. I want to push that Jad is a 30-year-old socialite who thinks he’s a poet. His family agenda forward. is pressuring him to take over the family toilet paper company. From the moment his ear gets cut at the barbershop and his Ferrari is stolen – with his poetry book in it – Jad’s Valentine’s Day spins out of control. Along the way, he is reunited with his emotionally unstable ex-fiancée, Zena, who insists on helping FINANCIAL INFORMATION him. A black comedy of errors ensues as they set off a domino effect of complications, and end up being pursued by the Total Budget: $1,000,000 legendary detective, Abu George. Financing already in place: $110,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Paper & Pen Films, Jordan • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Contact Current Status: Development Amin Matalqa Looking For: 7215 Hillside Ave #46 • Co-financiers interested in commercial Los Angeles, USA comedies T: +1 310 365 4712 [email protected] Genre: Comedy, Dark Comedy, Romantic Comedy, Social Issues www.captainaburaed.com Language: Arabic

42 43 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Spring Grant 2012 I am fascinated by memories Kasem Kharsa is an Egyptian Cat Villiers produces through her Shelter and what we choose to forget. filmmaker who was raised in company Autonomous. Currently I have embraced the region’s Saudi Arabia and the USA. His based in Cairo and London, she ‘Shelter’, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar past to shape a story that says experience as a design engineer has produced and co-produced something about its history of and fine artist fostered his career in many countries around the Ahmed, who lives in the ghettos of Beirut, cannot remember Kasem Kharsa violence, and the homelessness as a writer-director. He is a past world. She is currently in post- his past, but is haunted by a recurring nightmare in which he Director / Screenwriter and psychic displacement caused fellow of the Rawi Screenwriters production on ‘In the Last Days is strangling a group of beautiful horses. by it. This film is inspired by Lab, Sundance Film Lab and of the City’ with director Tamer my own fragmented past and Binger Film Lab. He is currently El Said and producer/actor Khalid my frustrations. I am drawn to preparing for his feature-film Abdalla (‘The Kite Runner’), outsiders, broken people living debut, ‘Shelter’. which is set in Cairo, Beirut and on the fringe and searching for Baghdad; in production on Faruk home, because I am one of them. Sabanovic’s feature animation In this sense, the characters of ‘Birds Like Us’, co-written with Cat Villiers this story search for what I have Olivia Hetreed (‘Girl with a Producer failed to find; their painful journey Pearl Earring’); and preparing is a surrogate for my own. Tala Hadid’s ‘Narrow Frame of Midnight’.

Louverture Films is dedicated to the production of films of historical relevance, social Joslyn Barnes purpose, commercial value and Producer artistic integrity. The company partners with progressive filmmakers and producers around Ahmad struggles to survive in the ghettos of Beirut. He cannot the world and particularly from remember his past or where he came from, and is haunted by the global South. a recurring nightmare in which he sees himself strangling a group of beautiful horses. One day, during a routine raid, he is arrested. His processing reveals that he is wanted for war crimes – for his part in a genocide 30 years earlier. Ahmad is convinced he could never have committed these terrible crimes. FINANCIAL INFORMATION With his lawyer, he must rebuild his memories in order to prove his innocence. As he is reunited with moments from his past Total Budget: $1,700,000 Current Status: Development and his idyllic childhood, he is reminded of things lost and the Financing already in place: $60,000 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Industry partners and co-producers for vile acts he had to commit while he was a soldier. He gradually • Abu Dhabi Film Commission’s Shasha Grant, production financing becomes convinced that he is guilty of something awful, and UAE that the mysterious horses in his nightmares may have been • Doha Film Institute, Qatar the key to his true sins all along. • Sundance Film Institute, USA

Contact Autonomous Runtime: 100 min Cat Villiers Genre: Drama London, UK Language: Arabic, Armenian, Romani

44 45 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 As the Arab world is rocked by a Merzak Allouache was born in Set up in 1999, Baya Films is a Terraces series of crises, Algeria seems to Bab el Oued in 1944. He studied production company based in be serene, celebrating the 50th filmmaking in Algiers at the Algiers. Films produced include ‘Estouh’, Algeria, France, Qatar, 2013 anniversary of its independence. Institut National du Cinéma and ‘Bab el Web’ (2005), ‘Harragas’ But, as I have tried to show subsequently at IDHEC in Paris. (2009), ‘Black Heaven’ (2010) The terraces of Algiers have become open-air mirrors of Merzak Allouache in my last films – ‘Harragas’, In 1976, he directed his first and ‘Normal!’ (2011). the contradictions, violence and intolerance of the endless Director / Screenwriter / Producer ‘Normal!’ and ‘The Repentant’ feature, ‘Omar Gatlato’. He lived conflicts that mar Algerian society. – Algeria has not exorcised its in France from 1983 to 1988, demons. Official propaganda, then returned to Algeria to direct political manipulation and the ‘Bab el Oued City’ in 1993. Since exacerbation of nationalism then, he has directed films in hide the reality of a restless both France and Algeria. His last society, rife with violence, film but one, ‘Normal!’ won the religious intolerance, terrorism, prize for Best Arab Film at DTIFF prostitution, drugs, suicides and in 2011, while his most recent, kidnappings. During the past ‘The Repentant’, screened in this decades, the intellectual elite year’s Directors’ Fortnight at has been either assassinated or Cannes. forced to emigrate. The middle class has been wiped out. ‘Terraces’ is a fictional story in which I continue my exploration of this complex and troubled society through a series of characters. The chaos we see on the streets of Algiers has now Algiers. An overcrowded city with endless traffic jams, chaotic reached its terraces, which were crowds, rundown buildings, old apartments piled up with once places of tranquility and families trying to survive… The Casbah, Bab el Oued, Belcourt, neighbourhood value. Notre-Dame d’Afrique, Telemly: five historic neighbourhoods of the Algerian capital. Five terraces of buildings situated in each of these neighbourhoods. Five stories independent of each other, which mingle and clash in the span of one day, from dawn FINANCIAL INFORMATION till midnight, paced by the five calls to prayer coming from the many mosques of the city. Five neighbourhoods, five terraces, Total Budget: $1,056,808 five moments in the day, and five stories to describe a society Financing already in place: $40,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): thought to be serene but which, in fact, is far from peaceful. • JBA Production, France • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Production Contact Looking For: Baya Films • Potential co-producers and partners Merzak Allouache Shooting Format: HD • Post-production opportunities Cité Mahiouz D15,183 Ben Aknoun Runtime: 90 min • Sales agents Algiers, Algeria Genre: Drama, Dramedy [email protected] Language: Arabic

46 47 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 In ‘The Valley’, the threat unfolds Born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1958, Abbout Productions makes The Valley on many levels before exploding. Ghassan Salhab has directed five feature films and documentaries It is present from the beginning feature films, all of which have with a distinctly Arab voice, ‘Al Wadi’, Lebanon, France, Qatar, 2013 of the film, even before the first been selected by international expressing the identity of images appear. The threat is there festivals: ‘Beyrouth fantôme’, the region. Since 1998, the An man with no memory is stuck in the Bekaa Valley with a Ghassan Salhab with the bloodied man without a ‘Terra incognita’ (Un Certain company has brought together group of people who are behaving suspiciously. Director / Screenwriter past, of whom we know nothing, Regard at Cannes 2002), ‘The Last an important network of Arab and who knows nothing. He is a Man’, ‘1958’ and ‘The Mountain’. and Lebanese artists. Abbout threat to himself, but also to the He has also directed numerous Productions has a strong people he helps. The unknown short films and videos, including partnership with MC Distribution, – the stranger – is, as we all ‘Posthumous’; ‘Narcisse perdu’; a company dedicated to recognise, threatening. The threat ‘My Living Body, My Dead Body’; promoting films from the Middle that never ceases to be present ‘La Rose de personne’; ‘Baalbeck’ East, along with priority access has weighed endlessly over (co-directed with Akram Zaatari to the Metropolis Cinema, the Georges Schoucair Lebanon, in a region that is, and Mohamad Soueid); ‘Afrique only arthouse cinema in Lebanon. Producer to say the least, unstable. fantôme’ and ‘Après la mort’. In 2010, Abbout signed a joint venture with Lucky Monkey Pictures in New York, which creates exciting opportunities for new Middle Eastern productions.

Following a car accident on a lonely mountain road, a middle- aged man loses his memory. Covered in blood, he walks along the deserted road. Further along, he encounters people with engine trouble and helps them get their car going again. They are reluctant to leave him stranded, so they take him home to their large estate in the Bekaa Valley, a place where production is not just agricultural – a place he may never leave again. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $956,144 Financing already in place: $141,810 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Les Films d’ici, France Contact • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Abbout Productions Georges Schoucair Current Status: Production 699 Saifi bldg. 4th floor, Looking For: Lebanon Street • Additional financing Beirut, Lebanon Shooting Format: HD T: +961 144 7824 Runtime: 100 min [email protected] Genre: Arthouse, Drama, Thriller, War www.abboutproductions.com Language: Arabic

48 49 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Narrative Fall Grant 2012 ‘Wooden Rifle’ is my first feature. Alfouz Tanjour was born in Cinemood Productions Wooden Rifle Through it, I want to tell lots of Salameih, Syria in 1975. He specialises in producing creative Syrian stories that I have been studied cinematography at the documentary and feature films. ‘Barodeh Khasheb’, Syria, Qatar, 2014 through. I make films the way Academy of Fine Arts in the Between 2008 and 2012, it life is created: everything I say Republic of Moldova from 2000 produced films including ‘The The story of Noor, an 18-year-old youth who leaves his Alfouz Tanjour in my films is a personal story, to 2004. Since graduating, he End of a Red Balloon’, and several village and goes to Damascus to live with his father during Director / Screenwriter something I have been through, has made several projects as documentaries for the Al Jazeera the first few months of the uprising in Syria. read or heard. In narrative films, director, director of photography, Documentary Channel, including I build everything, recreating it editor or executive producer, ‘Black Stone’, ‘Damascus City to resemble the image of reality including eight documentaries Symphony’ and ‘Cola Bridge’, from a specific perspective. for the Al Jazeera Documentary all by Alfouz Tanjour. Thus I build my world as I want Channel and, in 2011, a series it, with everything related of 10 short features under the to telling the story. Lighting, title ‘The Spark of Beginning’. Linda Zahra camera movements, the actors’ Tanjour’s 2007 short ‘A Little Sun’ Producer performances and the scenery – won the Tanit de Bronze at the these are all there to create the Carthage Film Festival in 2008 shape and content of the film. and a Special Jury Mention in the The aim is to solve the mystery Love International Film Festival in of reality, not to create a reality of Mons, Belgium in 2009. unconnected symbols.

The film tells the story of the relationship between father and son, which is strange and cold at first. Noor appears irritable and distant. He constantly thinks of his village and of going back there because he feels lost in the crowded, noisy city and its growing revolution. The film presents the stories of the people of Syria – the details of their lives, their misery, the way they deal with a reality imposed upon them by fate, their battles with day- FINANCIAL INFORMATION to-day life, protests and demonstrations, their minor imaginary victories and their many defeats and disappointments. Total Budget: $500,000 Financing already in place: $108,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Cinemood Productions, Syria • Lais Art Productions, Syria • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Development Looking For: • Additions financial support Contact Alfouz Tanjour Genre: Drama [email protected] Language: Arabic

50 51 Feature Documentary Cursed Be the Phosphate Democracy Year Zero A Djelfa-Dweller’s Dream Egypt’s Modern Pharaohs Embers The First Supper The Foreign Son Freedom Fields Gaddafi’s Girls Gaza 36mm Matoub Lounès: The Story of a Legend Salaam Plenty Somebody Clap For Me Stars And Extras Waves What Comes Around When Home… Becomes Hell Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 Many things can be said about the Director Sami Tlili was born Nomadis Images is a Tunisian Cursed Be the events of 14 January 2011; the one in 1985 in Kairouan, Tunisia. audiovisual production company thing that can be agreed upon A university lecturer in Sousse, whose main activities include is that the occurrences changed Tunisia, he teaches the history the production of fiction short Phosphate the lives of many Tunisians. of art, francophone literature and feature films, fiction Sami Tlili The actions of the people have and African cinema. A former documentaries and commercials; Director / Screenwriter ‘Maudit soit le phosphate’, Tunisia, Qatar, 2012 helped reconcile Tunisia’s citizens active member of the cine-clubs service provision; and training. with their country and with one movement in Tunisia and the The company’s filmography In January 2008, a group of unemployed youth began a another. I have never been more Tunisian Federation of Amateur includes ‘Buried Secrets’ (2009), movement of civil dissent in Redeyef, Tunisia. Four years proud of my country and my Filmmakers (FTCA), Tlili has ‘Barakat’(2006) and ‘Satin Rouge’ later, what remains of this human adventure is broken souls, origins, and to belong to the directed three short films, which (2002). interior regions of Tunisia, which, were selected for and won open wounds, pride and dignity. before the revolution, had a awards at several international Since 1983, CINETELEFILMS heavy burden to carry. In Tunisia, independent festivals. ‘Cursed Be has been one of the leading Dora Bouchoucha there was a social fracture: the the Phosphate’ is his first feature production companies in the Producer Gafsa region, where I come from, documentary. Arab world, producing creative was forgotten and neglected by documentaries and feature films the regime . For once, all eyes like ‘Laila’s Birthday’ (2009), were turned towards the dusty which premiered in Toronto mountains of the West. Today, and has been distributed in these regions are forgotten again. 15 countries. The feature-length documentary ‘No More Fear’, Habib Attia about the Tunisian revolution of Producer January 2011, was in the official selection of the 64th Cannes Film Festival.

On 5 January 2008, a sit-in organised by a group of unemployed youths in front of the Town Hall of Redeyef in Tunisia marked the beginning of a movement of civil dissent that lasted six months. FINANCIAL INFORMATION Twenty-one years after the ‘medical coup d’état’ that brought General Ben Ali to power, he is confronted with his first popular Total Budget: $180,000 Current Status: Completed uprising. Those involved in the uprising are Moudhaffer, Bechir, Financing already in place: $130,000 Looking For: Adnene, Leila and Adel. They are teachers, the unemployed Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Sales agents • Nomadis Images, Tunisia • Broadcasters and young people in despair. Some ventured onto the streets • CINETELEFILMS, Tunisia • Distributors Contact to shout their wrath; others were there to support the silenced • The Tunisian Ministry of Culture Nomadis Images voices that should be heard. • Tunisian Television Dora Bouchoucha • Abu Dhabi Film Festival’s SANAD film fund, 11 Rue Mami Shooting Format: HD UAE La Marsa, Tunisia Runtime: 82 min • Doha Film Institute, Qatar T: +216 71 749 080 Genre: Documentary • The Screen Institute Beirut, Lebanon [email protected] Exhibition Format: HDCAM www.nomadis.net Language: Arabic

54 55 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 Amira and I met for the first Christophe Cotteret is a theatre Entre Chien et Loup’s production Democracy Year Zero time in Tunis at the end of 2010. and video director living in policy focuses on high- Two months later, Ben Ali was Brussels. He spent the period quality content. Its production ‘Démocratie année zéro’, Tunisia, Belgium, France, Qatar, 2012 removed from power starting 2002 to 2006 in Beirut and philosophy remains firmly what we see as a laboratory of continues to work in several committed to this principle, and Following 12 months of research, ‘Democracy Year Zero’ Christophe Cotteret democracy in Tunisia – something Arab countries. For 10 years, it is thanks to this emphasis that takes us behind the scenes of the Tunisian revolution, Director / Screenwriter unprecedented in the Arab world. his projects have allowed him the company has succeeded, showing it through the eyes of the people who made it. And so the film ‘Democracy Year to explore the political and since its launch in 1989, in Zero’ was born. Looking back geopolitical particularity of imposing itself on the European on these events, we wanted to Lebanon and the Arab world. audiovisual market. Maintaining understand and illustrate what ‘Democracy Year Zero’ is his first and developing ongoing access was it that managed to transform film. He is currently developing to distribution networks in a series of sporadic revolts into a his next documentary, ‘Ennahda’, the audiovisual sector is a true revolution and bring about about the Tunisian Islamic permanent and formidable Amira Chebli the country’s transition political party. challenge, particularly in a social Director / Screenwriter to democracy. environment where pre-digested Amira Chebli, a Tunisian actress image consumption has become who trained at the École des the norm. However, Entre Chien Beaux-Arts in Tunis, has worked et Loup remains faithful to its in film and theatre in several Arab basic intentions: to make films countries. She was a member that combine a committed style of the UGET (General Union of of direction, authorship and Benoit Roland Tunisian Students), and took subject matter; a strong sense Producer part in the first Tunisian blogger of cinematography; and the movements, starting in 2006. production values necessary for She was also closely involved in these ambitions to be realised. Four weeks: that is how long it took the Tunisian people to the Tunisian revolution of 2011. overthrow the dictator Ben Ali and make way for one of the ‘Democracy Year Zero’ is her first greatest geopolitical upheavals of the early 21st century. film as a co-director. But the Tunisian revolution, as unexpected and spontaneous as it appeared to the eyes of the world, is part of a larger story encompassing the time of the uprising in the mining region of Gafsa in 2008 to the first free elections in October 2011. In two FINANCIAL INFORMATION chapters and 12 months of investigation, ‘Democracy Year Zero’ tells the story of these events and their global impact through Total Budget: $358,460 Current Status: Completed the eyes of the actual protagonists of the revolution. Financing already in place: $310,640 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Television pre-sales • Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Belgium • Centre Bruxellois de l’Audiovisuel – CBA, Contact Belgium Entre Chien Et Loup • Belgium Tax-Shelter Benoit Roland • Cinétéléfilms, Tunisia Rue de l’Ambleve 28 Shooting Format: HDV • Points Communs Films, France Brussels, Belgium Runtime: 114 min • Doha Film Institute, Qatar T: +32479439822 Genre: Documentary [email protected] Exhibition Format: HDCAM www.entrechienetloup.be Language: Arabic, French

56 57 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 One of the issues of this film will David Yon was born in 1979 in Hautlesmains Productions was A Djelfa-Dweller’s be a specific approach to history, Provins, France, and obtained a founded in 2009 by independent not searching for objective truth, Masters degree in documentary producers Karim Aitouna and but endeavouring to bring the filmmaking from Lussas in 2005. Thomas Micoulet. Based in Lyon, Dream past into the present. The daily Since then, he has divided his the company develops fiction and David Yon lives of the Lahrech brothers time between research into documentary projects and works Director / Screenwriter ‘Le Songe d’un habitant de Djelfa’, Morocco, France, Algeria, Qatar, 2013 and their friends, the way they image and sound, and working with filmmakers whose pictures live in their hometown, their in a library where he conducts explore issues facing humanity. daily concerns – all of this will workshops and programmes The high steppe: three young Algerians explore the land in intertwine with fabricated scenes films. In 2007, he achieved his search of clues. In the stone, the puzzles are revealed. that enable pieces of the past to ambition of creating a magazine surface. about cinema that combines a book, a dvd and a website: ‘Dérives’ (www.derives.tv). Karim Aitouna In April 2009, he completed his Producer first film, ‘The Birds of Arabia’, which was selected for a number of festivals.

The dim light of night covers a stony desert in Algeria. By the light of the moon, Faouzi, IIyes and Idriss are walking: we have no idea if they are running away or looking for something. They arrive at ‘the white’, an abandoned farm in the middle of the steppe. Slowly, another face appears in their dream. It is FINANCIAL INFORMATION the face of otherness, the face of one who is absent: their distant Total Budget: $253,200 Current Status: Production ancestor, Madalena Aoles, a Spanish woman kidnapped by the Financing already in place: $72,050 Looking For: soldiers of Emir Abd-el-Kader. Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Distributors • Centre national des arts plastiques, France • Sales agents • PACA region, France • Commissioning editors Contact • Survivance Productions, France • Festival programming Hautlesmains Productions • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Karim Aitouna 1 Rue Camille Jordan Lyon, France Shooting Format: HD T: +33 668 175 187 Runtime: 60 min [email protected] Genre: Creative Documentary www.hautlesmainsproductions.fr Language: Arabic

58 59 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 The revolt in Egypt took me Jihan El Tahri is an Egyptian and Created in 2004 by documentary Egypt’s Modern by surprise. As an Egyptian, I French national who began her director Jihan El Tahri, Big watched the events that began career as a journalist. Between Sister is an independent film on January 25 with pride. But 1984 and 1990, she worked as production company specialising Pharaohs it took me a while to recognise a news agency correspondent in documentaries about politics, Jihan El Tahri that there, within that revolt, lay and TV researcher. In 1990, she history and social matters the seeds of the documentary began directing and producing affecting countries from Africa Director / Screenwriter ‘Les Pharaons de l’Egypte moderne’, Egypt, France, USA, Qatar, 2014 I have waited so long to make. documentaries. Since then, El and the Middle East. Big Sister’s Scrutinising the structures of Tahri has directed more than a objective is to underline cultural the post-colonial state could shed dozen films, including the Emmy- diversity in the audiovisual field. ‘Egypt’s Modern Pharaohs’ is an autopsy of the road to light on the central questions that nominated ‘The House of Saud’, Based in Europe, the company Egypt’s revolt. The film explores the how and why this have become my quest: How did ‘The Price of Aid’, which won the aims to create a platform for outburst was inevitable. the newly independent countries European Media prize in 2004, co-operation with professionals thwart the vision they had fought and ‘Cuba: An African Odyssey’, from Africa, the Middle East, Karim Boutros Ghali for? How did our liberators which won awards in France, etc. It helps veteran directors Producer become our oppressors? There Canada, Angola and Venezuela. extend their body of work and will be dark days ahead, but Her most recent documentary is supports upcoming talent from whatever replaces the old regime ‘Behind the Rainbow’, about the Europe, America and Africa. and its structures, a new chapter ANC’s transition from liberation Having extensive experience in Egypt’s history is beginning. army to governing party in South in international documentary Africa. production, El Tahri has built strong working relationships with leading European and international broadcasters.

On January 25, 1952, downtown Cairo was burnt down: angry mobs demanded the departure of British colonial military rule and called for ‘bread, freedom and social justice’. Fifty-nine years later to the day, the same anger was displayed and the same slogan brandished, but this time against Egypt’s elected FINANCIAL INFORMATION president. For six decades, Egypt’s post-colonial leaders forged a system that harnessed military and religious powers, struck Total Budget: $1,588,725 Current Status: Production a delicate balance in foreign relations and muzzled a complacent Financing already in place: $592,528 Looking For: civil society. What led the docile Egyptians to mass revolt? Financial Partners (already confirmed): • TV sales • ARTE France • Distributors How were the promising ideals of the 1952 revolution hijacked? • Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image • Sales agents What led to the total breakdown of social justice and political Animée, France Contact freedom? • Doha Film Institute, Qatar IPS / Big Sister Karim Boutros Ghali Shooting Format: HD 4 rue de Nevers Runtime: 150 min Paris, France Genre: Documentary, History, Middle Eastern, Politics T: +33 9 5279 5870 Exhibition Format: Unknown [email protected] Language: Arabic, English

60 61 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 I started with the thought of Tamara Stepanyan was born in When Djinn House was founded Embers making a film about my grandma. Armenia but moved to Lebanon in 1995, it was one of a few As I began that process, the film when she was 12. Works include production companies that ‘Embers’, Armenia, Lebanon, Qatar, 2012 took another direction, another the video installation ‘My Beirut’ emerged in post-war Lebanon, meaning. In the homes of my (2009) and ‘Little Stories’ (2010), and it quickly became a point ‘Embers’ is a touching tribute to the memory of the Tamara Stepanyan grandma’s friends, time has which screened at CPH:DOX in of reference for the local fimmaker’s grandmother – also named Tamara – through Director / Screenwriter / Producer stopped. Things are just as they Copenhagen. She is no stranger film industry. The company conversations with her elderly circle of friends in her were 20 years ago, when the to Doha: in 2011, her short essay produces short and feature hometown. Their memories and souvenirs of this beloved communist system collapsed in film ‘February 19’ received a films, documentaries, music woman close a gap between past and present. Armenia. This is where the film post-production grant from DFI. videos and commercials for starts. diverse audiences. Djinn House works closely with independent filmmakers in order to make quality films while respecting the Michèle Tyan identity of each project. Some Producer of the company’s credits include Tamara Stepanyan’s ‘Embers’, Reine Mitri’s ‘Vulnerable’, Barbet Schroeder’s ‘L’Avocat de la terreur’ and Gassan Salhab’s ‘The Last Man’.

A dialogue between two generations is represented by Tamara, the grandchild of an older Tamara who has passed away. This journey explores the past and the present; the nostalgia of an era that is at once absent, yet still here because of those members of that earlier time. They are Tamara’s friends, who fought with her in World War II in 1945. The young Tamara – me – went in search of them to bring my grandmother to life FINANCIAL INFORMATION through their souvenirs, ideologies, fights and remembrances. The main protagonist of the film is an absent hero. The subject Total Budget: $58,500 Current Status: Completed of the film is a feeling – the feeling of loss and disappearance; Financing already in place: $51,500 Looking For: of a time that once existed, but now only the almost invisible Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Distribution remnants are still here. The film is not about one person, • Screen Institute Beirut, Lebanon • Sales assistance ideology or belief; it is about the totality of loss. • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Asian Network of Documentary, South Korea

Shooting Format: HDV Contact Runtime: 77 min Tamara Stepanyan Genre: Based on a True Story, Documentary, Politics 131, rue de la Roquette Exhibition Format: HDCAM 75011 Paris, France Language: Armenian, Russian

62 63 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 My intention as a Palestinian Jamal Khalaile was born in Majdal Films was created by The First Supper is to provoke meetings and Acre in 1976 and graduated with Baher Agbaryia in 2012. Agbaryia organise collisions between a cinema and television degree has co-produced several award- ‘The First Supper’, Palestine, France, Italy, Qatar, 2014 the various characters so that from Jerusalem’s Hadassah winning films by pre-eminent the stories reveal a maximum College, where he studied Palestinian filmmakers in Israel, ‘The First Supper’ is a one-night philosophical dinner with six Jamal Khalaile of sincerity and emotion. The directing and editing. including ‘Atash’ by Tawfik Abu young people from the Middle East, symbols of a generation Director / Screenwriter stage is thus a ‘real-action’ film He worked as location manager Wael, ‘Paradise Now’ by Hani that has known nothing but political upheaval. set in a metaphysical dimension for filmmakers Elia Suleiman Abu Assad, ‘Be Quiet’ by Sameh into which are woven situations (‘The Time That Remains’), Tawfik Zoabi and ‘Inheritance’ by Hiam and real relations between the Abu Wael (‘Tnathur’), Sameh Abbass. Agbaryia also produced protagonists, brought together Zoabi (‘Man Without Cell-Phone’) ‘Sho Qostak’ by Jamal Khalaile in a more or less artificial way. and Hiam Abbas (‘Inheritance’). and Pauline Carbonnier. He is The camera is more a mirror of Khalaile also edited the feature currently producing the next the world, rather than a window film ‘Bena’ by Niv Klainer. film by Hani Abu-Assad. Pauline Carbonnier onto it. Beyond the politics, the Director / Screenwriter cinematic experience also acts Pauline Carbonnier was born in as a vehicle for intercultural France and has directed several dialogue, promoting the documentary films in Asia. She encounter between murderous wrote and co-directed Part 1 of traditional identities and the ‘Sho Qostak’ with Jamal Khalaile, awareness of a new intercultural and is now co-writing the second identity. part of the trilogy in addition to Baher Agbaryia working on her first feature film. Producer

‘The First Supper’ is a creative documentary that takes place behind closed doors in an isolated house on an island. The protagonists of various Middle Eastern countries and backgrounds gather for dinner. They are a Syrian who fled his country during the civil war; an Egyptian who lived through the events of Tahrir Square; an Iranian who has followed the Green Revolution in Tehran; and three young Israelis from different FINANCIAL INFORMATION ideological backgrounds. They confront one another, each obsessed with their own history, each seeing themselves as Total Budget: $300,000 victims, each accusing the other. But one question remains: Financing already in place: $14,000 • Financial Partners (already confirmed): how to live with one’s antagonist; the one who is different • Majdal Films, Palestine and has opposing needs? • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Development Looking For: Contact • Distributors Pauline Carbonnier Runtime: 80 min • Sales agents Marines, France Genre: Creative Documentary, Docufiction, Middle Eastern, Poetic T: +33 681 764 637 Documentary [email protected] Language: Arabic, English, Hebrew

64 65 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 While travelling through France After graduating from high Nouvelle Toile works in close The Foreign Son years ago, my father said to me, school in 1971, Abdallah Badis cooperation with filmmakers on ‘Seeing you on the street, people started his work life as a steel fiction and documentary films ‘Le Fils étranger’, Lebanon, Algeria, France, Qatar might think you are too French worker in Lorraine. In 1973, a to turn the film experience into to be my son. But your mother chance encounter with filmmaker a rich and collective one. For us, Fifty-year-old Omar returns to his homeland. A tortuous Abdallah Badis and I know that you are not a René Allio turned out to be life- producing films allows authors path unfolds in front of him, which he is led through by a Director / Screenwriter Westerner. You are an Arab for changing. Badis started working to tell stories that are seldom providential child. sure, our son.’ These words are as an actor, then collaborated heard, and narratives that are the seeds of my forthcoming film. on various films. Whether on the meaningful to populations who stage or in film, Badis has always are often ignored. tried to lend a voice to unnamed people – the world he comes from – portraying normal people and their special ways: gestures Rachid Khaldi at work and in daily life; ordinary Producer words; silences. He is a witness to the lives, mutations and upheavals of our times.

Answering the call of his native Algeria, of which he retains only childhood memories, 50-year-old Omar returns home after many years. There seems to be a path unfolding for him, and it is tortuous. A providential child will guide him. The apparently pristine wilderness is heavy with the past. Between reality and fantasy, his past will surface through archive footage. This uncanny trip will lead Omar to paradoxically connect FINANCIAL INFORMATION with a land he hardly knows, and allow his intimate reunion with an estranged family. Total Budget: $701,747 Current Status: Development Financing already in place: $220,590 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Production funding • Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image • Post-production means Animée, France • Broadcasters • Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, France • Distributor to pre-purchase film rightsw Contact • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Nouvelle Toile Rachid Khaldi Shooting Format: HDCAM 30, rue de la Commune de Paris Runtime: 90 min Aubervilliers, France Genre: About Family, Docufiction, Essay Documentary, History, T: +33 6 29 50 62 07 Immigration, Road Trip [email protected] Language: Arabic, French

66 67 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 When I was a child, my father had The daughter of a Libyan national, Freedom Fields dreams of my brother becoming a Naziha Arebi grew up in the UK. footballer, sporting the jersey After working in theatre, she ‘Ana Hurriya’, Libya, Qatar of AC Milan or Manchester gained a scholarship to study United. My brother was not so art, then won a place at the Sohad, a passionate female football scout, works her way Naziha Arebi keen, so I stepped into his shoes prestigious Drama Centre London across the country to discover and empower the women of Director / Screenwriter and ended up playing into my at the Central Saint Martins Libya through sport. early teens. When I returned to College of Art and Design, Libya after the revolution, the where she recently obtained energy was amazing – it felt like her Masters in Screen. She then winning a football match. went on to collaborate with I became obsessed with Libya’s Tunisian bloggers on a new play, and Gaddafi’s relationship with ‘The Pirates of Carthage’, which football, and was amazed to explores Flaubert, the Tunisian discover women playing in secret. Revolution, Twitter and the In Libya’s process of change, power of the people. She spent I saw this as a way to encourage a lot of 2011 in Libya, discovering women’s involvement in society, her new homeland and recently pushing the boundaries of what attended a workshop in Tripoli it means to be truly ‘free’ in a for young Libyan Filmmakers liberated Libya; something that, with the Scottish Documentary as a Libyan woman, I wanted not Institute. only to document, but also to be a part of.

In the new dawn of a nation once shrouded in mystery, we follow Sohad, a passionate female football scout, on her cross- country journey to discover and empower the future women of Libya through sport. The dramatic Libyan landscape is the backdrop to this human and heartfelt slice of post-revolution Libyan life. The film unveils the struggles, cultural conflicts and the possibilities that lie ahead for women in a new, free Libya, FINANCIAL INFORMATION on and off the football pitch. Total Budget: $90,000 Current Status: Development Financing already in place: $15,000 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Introductions to documentary markets • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Funding • The Olympic Truce Fund for Reconciliation • Equipment donations through Sport • Post-production assistance • Executive producers

Contact HuNa Films Runtime: 70 min Naziha Arebi Genre: Documentary, Female Director, Middle Eastern, Religion, Social Tripoli, Libya Issues, Sports, War, Women, Women Interest, Women Issues, Youth [email protected] Language: Arabic

68 69 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 My intention is to make a film Sylvia Stevens is a co-founder Faction Films has been at the Gaddafi’s Girls that will be moving and of Faction Films, and has more cutting edge of documentary enlightening for international than 25 years’ experience as a programme-making since 1983. ‘Gaddafi’s Girls’, Libya, UK, Qatar, 2013 audiences. I am an outsider and producer and director. She has We work regularly with UK and want to keep my eye sharp to made programmes for major UK international broadcasters in The story of Gaddafi’s unique all-female bodyguard unit. Sylvia Stevens ensure these women’s stories can and international broadcasters Europe, the USA, Japan and For the first time, his ‘eyes and ears’ reveal the truth about Director / Screenwriter be understood and appreciated and co-produced with companies Australia. Our programmes their lives, their leader and their country. by an international audience. in Latin America, India, South have won awards, appeared I have been interested in Libya Africa, Australia and Japan. in numerous festivals and for years, having made films in Her films range from social and helped change laws. Faction’s Northern Ireland and Colombia political subjects to the arts, and programmes range from cultural, and hearing stories from ex-IRA have won prizes in the USA, Cuba social and environmental people who have been to Libya. and Ireland. She is the writer and explorations to investigative What the truth is, I don’t know – co-director of the theatrically documentaries. We have a strong Kahina Amara-Korba but I do know most revolutions released feature documentary track record of nurturing new Producer create change, some for the ‘Chevolution’, which has been talent. Recent credits include better; but most disappoint. sold to broadcasters around ‘Through the Looking Glass: The the world. Stevens has been Andijan Massacre’ for BBC World; the EAVE Documentary Expert ‘Chevolution’ for Netflix; ‘Divorce: since 2005, running workshops Sharia Style’ for Channel 4; and internationally, including in Egypt, ‘Aphrodite’s Drop’ for ARTE, NHK, Tunisia and Turkey. SVT and AVRO.

Known as the Amazons or Revolutionary Nuns, they were personally selected by Colonel Gaddafi for their beauty, strength and loyalty. They had unprecedented access to him in public and private. They were his eyes and ears. ‘Gaddafi’s Girls’ is told through five or six women’s stories from different generations, revealing a unique picture of Gaddafi’s Libya. Now imprisoned, in exile or on the run, facing an uncertain future, they will peel FINANCIAL INFORMATION back the facade from the early days of the revolution to tell the darker tale of life inside a regime where the dream turned into Total Budget: $617,000 a brutal nightmare. Financing already in place: $75,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • MEDIA – European Union • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Contact faction films Current Status: Development Kahina Amara-Korba Looking For: 26 Shaklewell Lane • International production financing London, UK Shooting Format: HDCAM T: +44 20 7690 4446 Runtime: 75 min [email protected] Genre: Documentary, History, Women Interest www.factionfilms.com Language: Arabic

70 71 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 ‘Gaza 36mm’ is a film that reflects Khalil Al Mozayen is a Palestinian Lama Films is an independent Gaza 36mm on the mass devastation and filmmaker who has extensive production company established suffering that cinemas face due experience in direction and in 2010 and based in Gaza, ‘Gaza 36mm’, Palestine, Netherlands, Qatar, 2012 to ideological, regional and social production, as well as technical Palestine. The company has conflicts. I wanted to create skills in camera and sound been involved in a number of Gaza cinemas have gone silent, even though its people rush Khalil Al Mozayen this film as an attempt to fight work. He is a seasoned trainer projects ranging from short into theatres to see new releases. What has happened to Director / Screenwriter fundamentalist extremism, and in filmmaking. He obtained a films to full-length features and film there today? to push for the further Bachelor’s degree in film directing documentaries. These have development of cinema: a from the Civilization Academy in aired on numerous TV channels medium that fosters social 1997. Al Mozayen was the director and participated in several film progress and community of the Ramattan News Agency festivals around the world. Lama development. I have seen cinema Palestine for almost a decade, Films aims to foster cinematic art unify people from different and has been the director for and culture in Palestine through religions and cultures – the Palestinian satellite channel new productions and the Lama Ahmed Abu Nasser a particularly relevant possibility ‘Palestine’ since 1999. He has Film Club. The company seeks to Producer in Gaza. Gaza hates ghetto extensive experience as director create productions that challenge culture; thus the film is an for numerous international and stereotypical views on various invitation to break up the local organisations, including issues, while always striving for fundamentalist ghetto and use the United Nations and the excellence. cinemas as an environment Swiss Agency. Al Mozayen also where revisions and new conducted training courses narratives can take place. for numerous programmes for institutions including Al Azher and Birzeit University.

Cinemas are no longer in Gaza due to the force of fundamentalist Islam, which sees these places as a threat to its political and social position; theatres are defined as places of corruption. A long series of actions carried out by the Islamic movement ended up burning down and taking over these places of cinema. The assassination of theatres was a personal assassination of our thoughts. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $44,000 Current Status: Completed Financing already in place: $44,000 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Distributors • International Documentary Film Festival • Broadcasters Amsterdam, The Netherlands • DOCmed training programme Shooting Format: HD • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Runtime: 47 min Genre: Documentary, Politics Contact Filming: Arab Nasser and Ibrahim Yaghi Lama Film Editing and mixing: Arab Nasser Khalil El-Muzayen Sound: Momen Awdallah Gaza, Palestine Assistant director: Tarzan Nasser [email protected] Language: Arabic

72 73 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 The personal history of Matoub Régine Abadia began her career Les Films de la Source is an Matoub Lounes: Lounès is intertwined with directing short fiction films and Algerian company based in Algeria’s post-independence has won several awards. She has Algiers that has produced more history. Through examining his directed many documentaries in than 20 Algerian features, shorts, The Story of a Legend life, we will come to understand the last 10 years, most of them documentaries and television Régine Abadia better the paradoxes of this co-produced by the French films. It has co-produced Director / Screenwriter ‘Matoub Lounès. Histoire d’une légende’, Algeria, France, Qatar country. Through his death, we channel Arte, including ‘Yasmina numerous feature films with will pose questions concerning & Mohammed’, (2012), ‘Jenny French companies, including In the Berber-speaking world, Kabyle singer Matoub Lounès violence in Algeria. Through his Bel’Air’ (2007), ‘La tête à l’envers’ Alexandre Arcady’s ‘What the music, we will feel the strength (2005), ‘Why Walk When We Can Day Owes the Night’, based on is legendary for standing up to the Algerian government and of the Kabyle songs, subversive Roll?’ (2003), ‘Dalida, chez nous the bestselling novel by Yasmina Islamic fundamentalists. by nature, and an expression soyez reine’ (2002), ‘Pigalle Night Khadra. The company is currently of cultural and political struggle. and Day’ (2000), ‘The Spirit of working on a historical film that Gospel (1998). Her first feature takes place in Algeria during the Bachir Derrais film, ‘A Strange Attraction’, revolution. It also co-produced Producer produced by Crescendo Films, is the Régine Abadia’s documentary currently in production. Abadia ‘Yasmina and Mohammed’, which also works as a scriptwriter with is about Khadra. feature-film director Jan Kounen.

Stéphane Jourdain Producer

In the Berber-speaking world, Kabyle singer Matoub Lounès is a legend. Assassinated in 1998, he was a rebel at heart. He stood up against his two enemies: the Algerian government and Islamic fundamentalists. His weapons were his eloquence, his FINANCIAL INFORMATION songs and his poems. This documentary film, shot in France and Algeria, will piece together interviews with those who knew Total Budget: $450,000 Current Status: Development Financing already in place: $25,000 Looking For: Matoub and tell the life story of a musician who, throughout Financial Partners (already confirmed): • TV co-producers his 20-year career, overcame his fears and said in his songs what • Procirep (development), France • Co-producers was forbidden to say. • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Presales • Distributors for TV and video

Contact Shooting Format: Video, HD Régine Abadia Runtime: 90 min Argenteuil, France Genre: Documentary [email protected] Language: Amazigh, French

74 75 Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 My earlier documentary, ‘When Born in Morocco, Yasmine Les films de la drève was founded Salaam Plenty Men Cry’, dealt with European Kassari emigrated to France with in 1973 by Jean-Jacques Andrien, immigration as an unfolding her parents, and graduated from initially to complete his first ‘Salaam Plenty’, Morocco, Australia, Belgium, Qatar event with unknown outcomes. the Belgian film school INSA in feature film, ‘Le Fils d’Amr est ‘Salaam Plenty’, in contrast, treats 1997. She joined Les Films de la mort!’, winner of the Golden A portrait of Australia’s Afghan cameleers from the mid Yasmine Kassari a self-contained episode in world Drève as a producer, and in 2003 Leopard at the Locarno Film 1800s to 1930, based on testimony from their descendants, Director / Screenwriter immigration, centred on the she established a production Festival in 1975. The company period photographs and press clippings. Afghan cameleers who emigrated company in her home town has since produced or co- to Australia during the late in Morocco, Les Coquelicots produced a dozen feature, 19th century. Looking de l’Oriental Production. In short narrative films and at the photos of the old Australian 2011, she obtained a Masters documentaries, including cameleers, with their turbans and degree in Social Sciences from ‘L’Enfant endormi’ (2004), weathered faces, the chants of the university EHESS in Paris. ‘When Men Cry’ (2000) and my grandfather’s prayers enter Her latest films include ‘When ‘Australia’ (1988). All films Jean-Jacques Andrien my memory, moving me to tears. Men Cry’ and ‘The Sleeping produced or co-produced by Producer This invisible link to the ancestors Child’. Kassari has always been the company have won awards at refuses to be silenced; these old interested in problems of identity, major international film festivals, men evoke my grandfather’s which she considers through an including Venice, Locarno, Berlin calm and strength, giving me accurate observation of reality. and Cannes. the strength and legitimacy to awaken them.

The documentary is about Afghan cameleers in Australia from 1860 to 1930, based on the testimonies of their descendants, period photographs and press articles. This near-century-long history has been overlooked by Australian historiography and is still ignored by the public. The work of these men was essential in building the Australian economy. Today, one million camels stray in the Australian desert – but hardly anyone in the country FINANCIAL INFORMATION knows how they came to be there. Total Budget: $694,000 Financing already in place: $10,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed):

Current Status: Development Looking For: • Financiers • TV presales Contact Shooting Format: Digital • Coproducers Les Films de la drève Runtime: 90 min Yasmine Kassari Genre: Documentary 7, ruelle de France Exhibition Format: DCP Battice, Belgium Language: English

76 77 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 I had never been to East Africa A fourth-generation Brazilian of Somebody Clap For Me before the DFI made it possible Syrian descent, Luciana Ceccatto for me to attend the Maisha Farah studied journalism and ‘Somebody Clap for Me’, Qatar, USA, Uganda, 2013 Documentary Lab in Uganda in fine arts in Belgium and Brazil. 2011. One thing that fascinated She has curated exhibitions, The rhymes and beats of Kampala. Luciana Ceccatto Farah me was how it was mid-way collections and arts projects Director / Producer / Screenwiter between my two homes, Brazil in the GCC since 2005, as well and Qatar – not so much in terms as attending film and acting of geography, but in terms of workshops at DFI. Her most culture and values. I chose to tell recent work was the creation the story of a new generation of the Arts & Culture Program of Ugandans who are trying to for the successful Qatar 2022 preserve their cultural heritage World Cup bid. She wrote, and and language while creating for is currently directing and Reem Al-Wohaibi themselves one national identity producing the 10-minute film Producer within a country comprising more ‘Somebody Clap for Me’, than 40 distinct cultures and a documentary about poetry ethnicities. It was refreshing and and hip hop in Uganda. surprising to see that Uganda is not just about extreme poverty, disease, corruption and wildlife safaris. Uganda has a very sophisticated and complex oral history and musical tradition and, ‘Somebody Clap for Me’ is a feature documentary that tells the as a result, a very lively cultural story of the urban resurfacing of village bonfire traditions in scene. the form of open-mic poetry events and hip-hop music by Ugandan poets and musicians. It is also about the people who make these events happen and the audiences who attend them. We follow these people’s everyday lives in the city that challenges and inspires them. This film is not about the corrupt, poverty-stricken, HIV-infected East Africa. Instead, it is about language and heritage preservation in an ever-growing urban FINANCIAL INFORMATION setting. Uganda remains true to its ancient oral traditions: Ugandans prefer to hear poetry recited, rather than reading Total Budget: $175,000 Current Status: Post-Production it in a book. Financing already in place: $83,000 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Opportunities to attend industry networking • Luciana Ceccatto Farah, Qatar events during DTFF • Reem Al Wohaibi, Qatar • Mentoring • Rekha Kaula, USA • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Contact Reem Al-Wohaibi Shooting Format: HD P.O. box 34027 Runtime: 90 min Doha, Qatar Genre: Art/Literature, Creative Documentary, Documentary, Music, T: +974 55376454 Youth [email protected] Language: English, Luganda

78 79 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 In my work, I often use Marwa Arsanios obtained her Ginger Beirut is a production Stars and Extras storytelling and narration in MFA from the University of the company for feature and short order to step into the imaginary Arts, London, in 2007, and is films, documentaries, TV series, ‘Nagamat Wa Extras’, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, 2013 and the imagination of certain currently a researcher in the Fine music videos and public service spaces. Fiction is used as a way Art department at the Jan Van announcements that covers every An experimental documentary that investigates the Egyptian Marwa Arsanios to understand and appropriate Eyck Academie in Maastricht, aspect of the production process cinema industry to understand better how the female role is Director / Screenwriter / Producer the histories of these places. The Netherlands. She has from co-producing and set work produced. The places I find myself looking exhibited in London, Beirut, to post-production. The diversity for often have traces of a once- Athens, Oxford, Lisbon, Santiago of talents and the facilities powerful ideology – spaces de Chile, Rome, Damascus provided include: acting coaching, where politics and affect come and most recently at the NGBK permits, casting, locations, together to form or destroy the in Berlin. Her work has been PR, budgeting, sound (design, subject. They are often places shown at Art Dubai in the Bidoun editing, mixing, recording, etc., where the private and the public Lounge (Art Park); in the Forum in collaboration with db Studios), Abla Khoury meet in an overwhelming manner. Expanded of the 2010 Berlinale; post-production (editing, colour Producer I am also interested in rethinking at the Homeworks V Forum in grading, etc., in collaboration production sites that have a Beirut; at Tokyo Wonder Site; and with REZ Visuals). direct impact on society, such most recently at the 12th Istanbul as the cinema or TV industries, Biennale and at the Centre and to question the systems of Pompidou in Paris. production so as to open the way for new encounters and possibilities.

‘Stars and Extras’ is an experimental documentary that examines the Egyptian commercial film industry and, more specifically, the role of women within it. Through encounters with scriptwriters and by following actresses on set, the film looks at the different politics of production and power relations that create the female role in cinema. It intends to bring together the economy of the relationship between the actress and the FINANCIAL INFORMATION different spaces where desire, hate, love and different affects are projected onto her as subject. Total Budget: $32,000 Financing already in place: $14,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Ginger Beirut S.A.L. • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Contact Current Status: Production Marwa Arsanios Shooting Format: HD Looking For: Mar Mkhael el nahr Runtime: 50 min • Potential partners Beirut, Lebanon Genre: Art/Literature, Arthouse, Avant Garde, Creative Documentary, • Post-production opportunities Documentary, Middle Eastern T: +9613417321 Exhibition Format: HDCAM [email protected] Language: Arabic

80 81 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 I have to admit that I did not Ahmed Nour was born in Egypt Waves want to make my film ‘Waves’ in 1983. He studied television about what happened during the directing at Ain Shams University ‘Moug’, Egypt, Morocco, France, UAE, Qatar, 2013 revolution. What I really wanted from 2000 to 2004, then went on to present was my generation’s to study creative documentary Everybody wonders how my home city of Suez could bring Ahmed Nour extreme frustration. I believe that filmmaking at the Arab Institute Mubarak’s rule in Egypt to an end. The story of my generation, Director / Screenwriter / Producer we were – and are still – living of Film in 2007. He has attended myself, my crows and the waves may help explain. in miserable conditions in terms workshops in feature and of freedom and human rights; documentary film directing that we have lost our authentic and cinematography, and was identity and culture; and that we selected for the Berlinale Talent have never felt ourselves free to Campus in 2011. He has worked choose how to live or what to do. as assistant to several well- There are still taboos that we are known directors in Egypt as well forced to follow if we are not to as directing his own independent be accused of atheism, betrayal, films. madness or any of those other naïve accusations we used to face, not just from the regime but also from society at large.

‘Waves’ is a documentary in six chapters, each of which tells a part of the story of Suez, the famous city on the Suez Canal and the flashpoint of the January 25 Egyptian revolution. The film reveals the special nature of this forgotten city, which has been at the centre of Egypt’s wars, and focuses on the reasons for the sudden rise of the Egyptian revolution. The revolt in Suez triggered a huge national reaction in every Egyptian city and, FINANCIAL INFORMATION above all, on the famous Tahrir Square in Cairo. Using a combination of documentary footage and animated scenes, Total Budget: $296,226 • Mactari Studio, France the director draws on his own memories to explain his Financing already in place: $247,000 • Goethe-Institut Cairo Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Goethe-Institut Rabat generation’s vision of Suez and how they lost their childhood • Thelsem films, Morocco • Doha Film Institute, Qatar innocence to 30 years of Mubarak’s rule. • Arab funds for Arts & Culture • Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Current Status: Post-Production Animée, France Looking For: Contact • Dubai International Film Festival, UAE • 35mm version Ahmed Nour Shooting Format: HDV • TV sales 9 Salah nesim Abrag el safwa, Runtime: 80 min • Distributors Cairo & Suez, Egypt Genre: Animation, Arthouse, Creative Documentary, History, Poetic • Sales agents T: +201021014446 Documentary, Politics, Psychological, Social Issues, Youth [email protected] Language: Arabic

82 83 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Feature Documentary Fall Grant 2012 I was born to a Lebanese father Reem Saleh has been working What Comes Around and an Egyptian mother, but in the media since 1999 when visits to Egypt were rare: I didn’t she was still a film student. Her ‘Al Gami’ya’, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, 2013 like it because the streets were experience ranges from acting filled with poverty. Twenty years and directing, to television In one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Cairo, people still Reem Saleh separated me from my mother’s production, to writing film find ways to resonate with hope. Director / Screenwriter family until she passed away in reviews. 2009 and I had to go back with her body for the funeral. A bond started to grow as I recited in my head all the good things she used to tell me about the magic of Rod El Farag, regardless of its misery. This is why I decided to pay Petra Abousleiman tribute to these beautiful people, Producer finding out more about them and showing the world that in poverty lies dignity.

In Rod El Farag, one of the poorest residential areas in Cairo, obtaining meat, fruit and daily bread is a constant struggle, but the sense of community shared by the inhabitatns helps them overcome their hardships to some extent through a social phenomenon known as ‘the Assembly’ or, in Arabic, ‘Al Gami’ya’. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $115,000 Financing already in place: $45,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Production Looking For: • Potential partners Contact Shooting Format: HD • Post-production opportunities Petra Abousleiman Runtime: 70 min • Sales agents Beirut, Lebanon Genre: Creative Documentary, Documentary, Middle Eastern, Poetic T: +961 3714882 Documentary, Social Issues, Women Interest [email protected] Language: Arabic

84 85 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Documentary Spring Grant 2012 My parents and their ancestors Dalila Ennadre was born in 1966 DJINN was established in 2006 When Home… were inhabitants of the ancient in Casablanca. After growing and is known all over the world Medina in Casablanca for several up in Paris, she lived in Guyana, thanks to one of the flagships generations. It was there that Germany, Morocco and Canada. of Arab-Muslim literature, Becomes Hell I discovered the words, In Montreal, she directed her first ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. Dalila Ennadre stories and beliefs of a certain documentary film ‘By the Grace This work represents the strength Director ‘Quand chez soi… devient l’enfer’, philosophy of humanity. The of Allah’ (1987). Upon returning of an imagination anchored Morocco, Algeria, France, UAE, Qatar, 2012 Medina was full of an oppressive to Paris in 1996, she directed in intellectual and cultural magic that I sensed had many several documentary films, which teachings. Ultimately, the work The Medina of Casablanca cries out for its inhabitants and things to tell me. When I learnt received awards from various evokes another dimension, their memory, but above all, for a more human world. of its story, I immediately felt she international film festivals. a magic universe which is was like a woman torn apart by reflected in DJINN’s broadcasting men and devastated by a tragic and filmmaking work. destiny. The voice of the Medina, Khalid Djilali profoundly original, will emerge Producer from this documentary. My film speaks of the lyricism of the Medina and those encompassed by it.

This film is a cry from the heart of the Medina of Casablanca for its inhabitants and their memory but, above all, for a more humanitarian world. At night, the Medina is embodied by the figure of a draped woman who rides through the alleys. Her FINANCIAL INFORMATION mysterious voice comes out of the silence, speaking to the world she once welcomed with open arms; a world which has betrayed Total Budget: $416,000 Current Status: Post-Production her through a stifling economic environment. Her testimony and Financing already in place: $202,500 Looking For: that of its inhabitants will feed the narrative structure of the film Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Additional post-production funding • Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image • Sales agents in a poetic way, mixing magic and reality. animée, Fonds Sud – Writing Grant, France • Distributors • ARTE France • International Organisation of La Contact Francophonie, France Label Video • Procirep / Angoa, France Dalila Ennadre Shooting Format: HD • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Paris, France Runtime: 80 min • Dubai Film Connection, UAE T: +33 6 68 60 78 89 Genre: Documentary, Identity, Immigration, Women, Youth [email protected] Language: Arabic

86 87 Short Narrative Control The Desert Fish Ismail Playtime Selma Tariq The Third Hand Though I Know The River Is Dry Yassine Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Short Narrative Spring Grant 2012 In Egypt, no one really knows Mohamed Adeeb graduated from Ad Astra Films is a production Control what happened during President the American University in Cairo and distribution company based Hosni Mubarak’s last speech. in 2009 with a Bachelor’s degree in Cannes that specialises in the ‘Control Room’, Egypt, France, Qatar We have clues and have heard in Broadcasting. He then studied international promotion of short In the state TV control room, the technical team is preparing some vague stories. What is more screenwriting for film at the films from the Arab world. The fascinating than being in the University of Southern California. company provides customised Mohamed Adeeb for what is arguably the most important speech ever Director / Screenwriter control room of the TV channel Adeeb now works for TVision, an consultancy during production transmitted there: Hosni Mubarak’s address to the broadcasting this speech? The Egypt-based production company to ensure short films adhere to Tahrir Square demonstrators on January 25, 2011. technicians who attended the that produces series and films for international standards. Ad Astra event heard and saw many things. the Arab world. also represents the short films They must have experienced produced by Abu Dhabi-based many emotions. They must have company Twofour54, including missed their families and wanted ‘5 Pounds’ directed by Mohamed to know what was happening in Adeeb, ‘Soul’ directed by Fatma Sébastien Aubert the rest of the country. All this Abdulla, ‘Ostora’ written by Fasial Producer waiting and pressure in such Al Sharyani and ‘The Pillars’ an important moment: I find directed by Mustafa Zakaria. this fascinating.

When a crew, stuck in a control room for more than 30 hours, is supposed to shoot the most important speech in Egyptian history, things get tense and interesting.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $61,000 Looking For: Financing already in place: $22,000 • Studio assistance for shooting Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Broadcasters • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Private sponsors Contact • Procirep / Angoa, France • Co-producers Ad Astra Films Sébastien Aubert Current Status: Production 84, av de Lattre de Tassigny Cannes, France Shooting Format: HD T: +33 6 63 32 34 15 Runtime: 20 min sebastien.aubert@adastra-films. Genre: Based on a True Story, Comedy, Drama, History, Politics com Exhibition Format: DCP www.adastra-films.com Language: Arabic

90 91 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Short Narrative Fall Grant 2012 ‘The Desert Fish’ is a film about Alaa Eddine Aljem was born Le Moindre Geste is an The Desert Fish a father-and-son relationship. in Rabat in 1988. He joined independent company founded Through the portrait of a small the School of Visual Arts in by Francesca Duca and Alaa ‘Hout Essahra’, Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar, 2013 family, not unlike my own, I talk Marrakech, the first film school Eddine Aljem, two young about two opposing forces: the in Morocco, graduating with directors and producers. Its He wants to be a fisherman but he has never left the desert need for emancipation and the a degree in film directing. creation was a small gesture with Alaa Eddine Aljem in his life. Director / Screenwriter vital need to be supported. When, His debut short film, ‘The big ambitions. Born of a passion in the middle of the summer of Ritual’, made in his second year for films, it aspires to give authors 2006, I told my parents that I had at the school, was screened the opportunity to work in more decided to become involved in at many festivals around the privacy and freedom. Le Moindre something artistic – cinema in world. In the same year, Aljem Geste has a rich and diverse my case – it was the beginning made his first documentary, editorial line, in which the author of a crisis. My father, who had ‘The House of Rumours’, which maintains an important role and always thought that watching a received a Special Mention has the opportunity to explore Francesca Duca movie was a waste of time, said, at the International Festival places, characters, stories and Producer ‘What kind of fool would want to in Casablanca; and ‘National feelings. make films while all cinemas are Education’, a fiction short. closing?’ This phrase continues After graduating, he obtained to echo in my ears. Fortunately, a Masters degree at the INSAS my mother (who would accept school in Brussels, and directed my wildest dreams, even if ‘Tribute’, another short. His films they lacked common sense) have been selected for various immediately supported me in my festivals around the world. dream of becoming a filmmaker. While avoiding open conflict The southern desert of Morocco. The son wants to become with my father, she managed to a fisherman and is always dreaming of the sea. The father is a convince him to accept my choice. gravedigger who cannot understand his son’s desire to leave their land. The boy’s mother, who is ill, wants to see her family happy together. This is a story about a father and son who must be separated if they are to meet up again. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $83,820 Current Status: Production Financing already in place: $12,687 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Distribution support, particularly in the • Meditalent, Morocco Arab world • Come And See Production, France • Neon Rouge Production, Belgium • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Contact Shooting Format: Super 16mm Alaa Eddine Aljem Runtime: 18 min Morocco Genre: Family, Social Issues T: +212656343075 Exhibition Format: 35 mm [email protected] Language: Arabic

92 93 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Short Narrative Fall Grant 2012 After the 1948 war, young Ismail Growing up between Kuwait, Greyscale Films, created in Ismail – like hundreds of thousands of Cairo and Amman, Nora Alsharif 2007, is more than just a video Palestinians who were evicted had a passion for cinema and film production company; ‘Ismail’, Jordan, Palestine, UK, Qatar, 2012 from their land – was compelled since a young age. In 2004, it is an experiment in the use of to live as a refugee. Despite the she graduated as a graphic audiovisual media to explore and A young Palestinian living in a refugee camp in 1949 Nora Alsharif deplorable circumstances, Ismail designer in Jordan and worked interact with social issues in an struggles to escape imminent death when he and his little Director never gives up his dream and in advertising for several years innovative and organic way. The brother stray into a minefield. confronts the intolerable day-to- before finally deciding to pursue partners at Greyscale are drawn day life with high spirits and an her dream, spending two years together by their desire to be part air of a rather cheerful defiance, assisting on various film and of a thoughtful, interactive and because giving up means defeat TV projects. In 2009, Alsharif transformative social dialogue and death. moved to London, were she through the production of obtained a Masters degree in film high-quality audiovisual media, The tale is simple. It avoids the directing from the University of using cutting-edge technology Abdelsalam Akkad usual oratorical speeches and Westminster. Her graduation film, and experimental methods. Producer allusions, and does away with a ‘Wednesday Afternoons’, won the They draw on the richness of direct political approach. Ismail Don Quixote Jury Award from the our immediate and physical is not just a protagonist; he is International Federation of Film surroundings, while fully a metaphor for a nation that is Societies and was selected for recognising the pervasiveness trapped in a country that has a number of festivals worldwide. of the digital world and the global become a minefield. Her other short films are ‘The standards it is creating. Greyscale Door’ (2008), ‘The Chase’ and Films takes pride in being open to ‘My Morning Coat’ (both 2009). ideas and thriving in diversity.

Ismail is a young Palestinian struggling to support his parents and the rest of his family after they are placed in a refugee camp in 1948 by the Israeli forces. Despite the wretched life and distressing conditions, he clings to his dream of going to Rome to study painting. One day, after selling cakes at the train station together, he and his little brother stray into a minefield. As Ismail faces death and battles to save his and his brother’s life, FINANCIAL INFORMATION we discover his true spirit. Total Budget: $147,530 Financing already in place: $123,166 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • A.M. Qattan Foundation, Palestine / UK Contact • The Royal Film Commission, Jordan GreyScale Films • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Abdelsalam Akkad Mo’atasem Street, Jabal Amman Shooting Format: HD Current Status: Completed 2nd Circle Building 116, Loft 201 Runtime: 33 min Looking For: Amman, Jordan Genre: Based on a True Story, Biography, Drama, History, Immigration, • Distributors T: +962 6461 5455 Period Piece, Social Issues • Festival programmers [email protected] Exhibition Format: HDCAM www.greyscalefilms.com Language: Arabic

94 95 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Short Narrative Spring Grant 2012 My experience growing up Hamad Al-Tourah is a Kuwaiti New York University Tisch School Playtime in Kuwait was influenced by filmmaker and writer who of the Arts Asia was founded interactions with people of many obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2007. Since its inception, its ‘Playtime’, Kuwait, Qatar nationalities in a landscape from New York University, students have produced more that was undergoing drastica where he studied journalism, than 400 films, which have An eight-year-old boy wanders around Kuwait, trying to changes. I would shift among cinema and Middle Eastern been showcased at top-tier film Hamad Al-Tourah track down his mother, who has left him home alone for a Director / Screenwriter American and Kuwaiti friends, studies. In New York, he worked festivals including Clermont- night out. Arabic and English, Eid and at independent documentary Ferrand, Palm Springs, Pusan, Christmas. It makes sense to production houses including Cannes, Vancouver, Berlin and make a film that highlights this Corra Films and Halal Films, Tokyo. Each graduating student diversity in this society in which producing content alongside receives $3,500 in production foreigners outnumbered locals documentary filmmakers Celia funds and full technical support three to one. I want to make a Maysles, Sandi Dubowski, for their thesis film. In addition, film that honestly showcases Parvez Sharma, Carl Deal and students have access to the latest Nadia Ahmad Al-Saqqaf the unique cosmopolitan Henry Corra. His work has been camera equipment. New York Producer society of the Middle East, and published in ‘Street Level’, an University Tisch School of the capture the social implications edition of New York stories Arts Asia offers four Masters of the American presence here. published by Pete Hamill, and of Fine Arts degrees within the Individuals from both cultures ‘Anthem Magazine’. His film ‘Alice Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film begin to mingle as they explore in the Meantime’ was an Official and Television, in Animation and each other’s lives with childlike Selection of the Palm Springs Digital Arts; Dramatic Writing; curiosity. International Shortfest. Film; and International Media Producing.

Matthew lives with his mother, an army secretary, in Ahmadi, Kuwait. One night, his mother leaves him alone for a night out and he tries in vain to track her down. Instead of finding his mother, Matthew crosses paths with Dalal, a 16-year-old Kuwaiti girl. Dalal is attempting to sneak out herself, but tries for a moment to cheer up Matthew. She is lured into his home by the prospect of stealing the mother’s alcohol. Matthew is well aware FINANCIAL INFORMATION of Dalal’s intentions and sneaks into her ‘borrowed’ car, and is taken through Kuwait’s underworld. Total Budget: $14,616 Financing already in place: $13,170 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Private Investors: Renimah Al-Mattar; Samer Jarjouhii

Current Status: Post-Production Looking For: Contact Shooting Format: HD • Post-production support Hamad Al-Tourah Runtime: 17 min • Post-production facilities PO Box 1234 Genre: About Family, Children, Coming of Age, Drama, Family, Identity, • Festival exposure Safat, Kuwait Middle Eastern, Social Issues, Women, Women Issues T: +965 9791 6614 Language: Arabic, English

96 97 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Short Narrative Fall Grant 2012 This is the story of a struggle and Mohamed Ben Attia was born Nomadis Images is a Tunisian Selma its emotional impact on the daily in Tunis in 1976. After graduating audiovisual production company life of a woman. from the Institut de Hautes whose main activities include ‘Selma’, Tunisia, Germany, Qatar, 2013 Études Commerciales in Tunis the production of fiction short in 1998, he studied audiovisual and feature films, fiction With quiet determination, a widow fights a daily battle Mohamed Ben Attia communication at the University documentaries and commercials; against society in order to provide a better future for her Director / Screenwriter of Valenciennes in France. He service provision; and training. daughter and herself. has directed four short films: The company’s filmography ‘Romantisme’, ‘Deux comprimés includes ‘Buried Secrets’ (2009), matin et soir’, ‘Kif Lokhrin’ (which ‘Barakat’(2006) and ‘Satin Rouge’ won an award at FESPACO in (2002). 2006), and also‘Mouja’ and ‘Loi 76’.

Dora Bouchoucha Producer

After the accidental death of her taxi-driver husband, Selma decides to become master of her own life by taking over his taxi. She comes up against the Kafkaesque procedures of Tunisian bureaucracy and the offhandedness of the insurance industry, but refuses to let go and is not intimidated by anything. With quiet determination, she also faces the conservatism of her in-laws who, under the pretext of morality, continue to dictate FINANCIAL INFORMATION the way she should behave. In order to create a better future for her daughter but also for herself, Selma is locked in a daily Total Budget: $49,142 struggle with the world around her. Financing already in place: $41,142 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • GTZ, German Technical Cooperation • Nomadis Images, Tunisia Contact • Doha Film Institute, Qatar Nomadis Images Dora Bouchoucha Current Status: Production 11 rue Mami Looking For: La Marsa, Tunisia Shooting Format: HD • Additional funding T: +216 71 749 080 Runtime: 13 min [email protected] Genre: Social Issues www.nomadis.net Language: Arabic

98 99 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Short Narrative Spring Grant 2012 ‘Tariq’ is a short film that Alaa Mosbah is from Egypt, Tariq discusses some taboos in the and graduated from the American Arab world. In a conservative University in Cairo in 2010. His ‘Tariq’, Egypt, Qatar, 2012 society like Egypt, parents cannot ‘Best Day of My Life’ won the talk about sex with their children. Best Documentary Film award Tariq, a teenager, wants to show his best friend that he is Alaa Mosbah The children usually get their at the 2012 Cairo Cinemobile a man, but his mother gets in his way. Director / Screenwriter information about sex from their Film Festival. His short film ‘Café friends. Tariq is 14 years old and Regular, Cairo’ won the Critics lives with his mother. She treats Jury Prize at the Oberhausen him like a child, violating his International Short Film Festival. privacy, and failing to give her son his independence; Tariq decides to challenge her.

Mohamed Salama Producer

A story of a relationship between a teenager and his mother. Tariq decides to test his manhood for the first time on his 15th birthday, trying to prove to his best friend Ramy that he is a man. In conservative Egyptian society, Tariq buys a box of condoms – his first step into the world of men. His mother finds the condoms in his cupboard, but it is not conceivable to discuss this issue in her home. The mother is alone; her husband is abroad working. What should she do when she discovers what FINANCIAL INFORMATION her 15-year-old son has planned? Total Budget: $5,000 Financing already in place: $5,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Completed Looking For: Contact • Support for publicity, festivals and upcoming Shireet Studio Shooting Format: Full HD projects Alaa Mosbah Runtime: 10 min Cairo, Egypt Genre: Based on a True Story, Drama, Social Issues, Youth T: +20 1113 3323 67 Exhibition Format: HDCAM [email protected] Language: Arabic

100 101 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Short Narrative Fall Grant 2012 In this film, I want to paint Hicham Elladdaqi was born in 1000 Visages Production The Third Hand a portrait of a small family Marrakech in 1982. He studied Association is a nonprofit struggling to survive. The only editing at the Marrakech organisation that has created, ‘Lyad Ttalta’, Morocco, France, Qatar, 2013 way for them to make it is by ESAV, the first cinema school produced and distributed films sacrificing their youngest. In in Morocco, and directed his since its founding in 2006. It has The story of a small dream, a silent love and an inborn sense Hicham Elladdaqi ‘The Third Hand’, Zineb ends up first short, ‘Some Feet Cannot produced numerous short films, of sacrifice. Director / Screenwriter taking the job her mother used to Dance’, which screened at several including ‘Paris vs. Suburbs’, have in a factory, thus becoming international film festivals. ‘Taxiphone francaoui’ and the family’s breadwinner. She Elladdaqi has worked as an ‘My Giant Trash’ by Uda will grow up as a factory worker, editor on various movies and TV Benyamina, which have received and have children and have programmes in Morocco. In 2011, awards in many festivals and to manage the expense that he participated in the Méditalent were broadcast on Canal +, entails. Her children will find screenwriting residency with this France 2, Direct 8 and TV5 Monde. themselves in the same position project. The company also produced a Didier Boujard and will sacrifice their future and public service announcement Producer participate in the survival of the encouraging people to vote, with family. It’s a vicious circle. the help of celebrities including Patrick Timsit, Richard Berry, Lorànt Deutsch, Peter Richard and Dominque Blanc. ‘Voting Is Power’ was broadcast on terrestrial and cable channels.

Zineb just passed her baccalaureat. Like all the young girls in the area, she wants to study in the city. But her parents do not even have enough to pay the electricy bill.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $57,567 Financing already in place: $15,935 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Méditalent, Morocco • 1000 Visages, France • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Contact Shooting Format: HD Hicham Elladdaqi, Morocco Runtime: 15 min T: +212664288370 Genre: Social Issues [email protected] Language: Arabic

102 103 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Short Narrative Fall Grant 2012 As a subject, Palestine can seem Omar Hamilton is an independent Riverdry Films is an independent Though I Know inaccessible and overburdened filmmaker, the producer of the film production company made with history. Too often, Palestine Festival of Literature up of director Omar Robert genuine drama and style are and a founding member of the Hamilton and producer Louis the River Is Dry lost to ideology and political Mosireen Collective in Cairo. Lewarne. Both were raised in the Omar Hamilton correctness. But cinema, of all Since 2011, he has made several UK and now live in Egypt and are Director / Screenwriter ‘Though I Know the River Is Dry’, Egypt, Palestine, Qatar, 2013 art forms, is the best equipped short documentaries about the currently deeply involved in the to try to recreate the Palestinian Egyptian Revolution, helping documentation of the Egyptian Caught between his brother’s past and his child’s future, experience, even if just a fraction make Mosireen the most watched revolution. one man makes a choice that triggers catastrophe for his of it. It is an experience that is non-profit YouTube channel of at once deeply complex and all time in Egypt. His previous Riverdry Films was established entire family. remarkably simple. It is both films have played at various to produce the pair’s fiction work cinematically physical and international festivals, including – their first project is ‘Though invisibly psychological; instantly Rotterdam, Dubai, Rushes and I Know the River is Dry’, which Louis Lewarne lethal and slowly maddening. Detmold. Hamilton’s films have wrapped principal photography Producer I doubt there is a single piece of appeared on Al Jazeera, ON TV in Palestine in June 2012. Future work that could ever do it all. But and Tahrir TV; his articles in ‘The projects are in development with filmmakers have a responsibility Guardian’, ‘The Big Issue’ and on independent directors in Cairo and art has an obligation to tell the BBC; and his photographs in and Ramallah. people’s stories, especially those ‘The Guardian’, ‘The Economist’ that are being buried. and ‘Al Shorouq’.

Alaa has just returned to Palestine after years spent in Detroit. Following the Arab uprisings, he feels a sense of responsibility to his country. We meet Alaa on his return and make the journey with him to see his last surviving uncle. On the difficult road FINANCIAL INFORMATION there, Alaa relives the choice that sent him to America – a Total Budget: $50,000 passport for his unborn child or a safe haven for his activist Financing already in place: $18,400 brother – and the new realities that are pulling him home. Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Indiegogo (crowd-funding platform) • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Post-Production Contact Looking For: River Dry Film • Post-production opportunities in Cairo or Omar Hamilton Shooting Format: HD elsewhere Cairo, Egypt Runtime: 16 min • Options for networking and distribution [email protected] Genre: Drama www.riverdryfilm.com Language: Arabic

104 105 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY producer’s PROFILE Short Narrative Spring Grant 2012 ‘Yassine’ is a reflection on the Rama Mari grew up in Amman, May Odeh was born in Birzeit, Yassine internal damage that is inflicted then lived in Tunis, Ramallah Palestine in 1981. She received on a society born into military and travelled extensively around her BA in Television and Radio ‘Yassine’, Palestine, Norway, Qatar occupation. It is a provocative the world before moving to San Studies from Birzeit University, story that touches upon our Francisco to attend film school and her Masters degree in In a place where death has become casual, Yassine finds Rama Mari society’s most sacred concept, at the Academy of Arts. She Documentary Filmmaking from an easy cover-up for his crime. But how long can he live Director / Screenwriter the martyr, and the possibility of graduated with a BFA in Motion Lillehammer University College with this lie? betraying that concept. I believe Pictures and Television, with in Norway. She was selected we are at a time in history when a focus on cinematography and to participate in the Palestinian we need to investigate our anti- screenwriting, then worked in Audio-Visual Programme heroes and our ability to betray Los Angeles with award-winning led by renowned Palestinian ourselves. producer Lisa Jan Savy as first film director Michele Khalife, assistant director on the short and directed two short films film ‘World of Wargames’, and there. She has worked on May Odeh later as DOP on the short film many Palestinian feature films, Producer ‘Not in My Backyard’. She moved including Rashid Masharawi’s back to Ramallah last year to ‘Laila’s Birthday’, Annemarie shoot ‘Yassine’ and further Jacir’s ‘Salt of this Sea’, Mohanad develop her feature script Yaqubi’s ‘Rico in the Night’, ‘Those Who Made the Road’. Nahed Awwad’s ‘Five Minutes The script for ‘Yassine’ came from Home’ and Ala’ Abu first place at Qattan Foundation’s Ghoush’s ‘Goldfish’. ‘Diaries’, her screenwriting competition, and first long-form documentary film, is now in post-production. Mari won a jury award at the Malmö is currently a cinematography Arab Film Festival 2012. Odeh instructor at Dar Al-Kalima is now working on several film In a land dotted with killing machines, Yassine finds an easy College in Bethlehem, and productions in Palestine, as well cover-up for his crime. But even in a place where justice hardly is involved in a number of as on her second feature-length ever prevails, truths still have ways to haunt us down. documentary.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $91,000 Financing already in place: $60,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Qattan Foundation, Palestine • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Østnorsk Filmsenter, Norway

Current Status: Post-Production Contact Shooting Format: HD Looking For: May Odeh Runtime: 16 min • Additional funding of $31,000 Ramallah, Palestine Genre: Crime, Drama, Family, Female Director, Identity, Middle Eastern, T: +972 597 168 631 Politics, Psychological, Youth [email protected] Language: Arabic

106 107 Experimental / Essay Dancing Beirut Encounters I Sold My Land That Which Is Coming Development DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Experimental / Essay In our collaboration, we are Alia Hamdan was born in Beirut Established in 2012, Hit et Nunc Dancing Beirut exploring the possibility of in 1979. After finishing her is a production company based in Fall Grant 2012 linking dance and video to urban Masters degree in philosophy Lebanon. Current work includes ‘Dancing Beirut’, Lebanon, Qatar, 2014 theories and the understanding of and urban studies and her dance a feature-length film and an public space. The presence of the training in Paris, she returned experimental short. Both are Dancers wander through Beirut, generating rhythms. Alia Hamdan dancing body in the city should to Beirut, where she works as due to be filmed in Beirut in 2013. Their itineraries connect places into a choreographic Director / Producer act as a tool to suspend our an urban researcher and dance narrative, building an insight into the city and its inhabitants. sensory-motor relations to the performer. In April 2011, she co- urban landscape and reveal it authored a performance at the as a pure vision, or a pure affect. BIPOD festival (Beirut), based on For a philosopher, this work building links between cinema presents an experimental field and live performance. where it is possible to test and expand a number of texts Fares Chalabi was born in Fares Chalabi by authors such as Deleuze, Beirut in 1977, where he studied Director / Screenwriter / Producer Bergson or Simondon. The philosophy and architecture. aim is to produce a practical/ He left Beirut for Paris in 2003 theoretical object-displacing to study philosophy. From 2005 perspective for rethinking habits to 2007, he worked in Indonesia in relation to dance and the for the Red Cross on the post- urban dimension. tsunami relief programme. Chalabi currently teaches philosophy at the American Claudia Rose Lewis University in Beirut, and art Producer theory at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts. A group of dancers wander through Beirut, looking for spaces where they can generate visual, sonic and psychological rhythms from the surfaces, situations and landscapes of the city. They deal with street signs, cars, sidewalks, parking lots, highways, staircases, archaeological sites, beaches, neighbourhoods… Their itineraries connect these different places in a choreographic narrative that attempts to reveal FINANCIAL INFORMATION the emotional heart of Beirut, focusing on the physical aspects of the relationship between the city and its inhabitants. The Total Budget: $35,000 film is conceived as a movement manifesto or moving poem, Financing already in place: $3,000 Financial Partners (already confirmed): dedicated to the city of Beirut. • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Development Looking For: • Additional funding Contact Alia Hamdan Shooting Format: HD Beirut, Lebanon Runtime: 50 min T: +96170537636 Genre: Art/Literature, Avant Garde, Musical, Politics [email protected] Language: Arabic

110 111 Post-Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Feature Experimental / Essay To me, Beirut has always been Sarah Francis graduated Encounters an invasive chaos, and this film from IESAV (USJ) in 2005. Spring Grant 2012 is a reaction to this feeling. It is ‘Interferences’, her graduation ‘Encounters’, Lebanon, Qatar the phase after rejection, anger short movie, won the students’ and isolation. It is a new step into film competition at the European A glass bubble roams Beirut; a van becomes a travelling Sarah Francis the city; to try a new approach by Film Festival in 2005. In that very confessional, home to a camera that encourages people to Director / Screenwriter / Producer selecting the right distance from first project, the theme of the city share personal moments. it. Hiding in the moving bubble was already apparent. Francis allows me to filter what I want to later took Masters courses in see and hear, choosing the people information and communications I want to interact with. Taking and participated in several back control enables me to see international workshops. and discover the city again. Since 2004, she has worked as a TV director for several production companies, including Imagic, Periba, Firehorse and Road to Films. Her work has been broadcast on Al Jazeera Children, Abu Dhabi TV and Future TV. She has also directed corporate documentaries and worked on many independent projects. ‘Encounters’ is her first personal film since graduation.

Hiding behind the glass of his moving bubble, the narrator explores the streets of Beirut while his camera constantly searches for something, for someone. This glass van becomes a moving confession room, captures moments in people’s lives on its journey. Their confessions are true, blunt and intimate. Inside this see-through box, the sounds of the city dissolve, the mood is intimate and anonymous faces becomes familiar. FINANCIAL INFORMATION People present themselves as individuals, isolated from the distracting elements around them. Total Budget: $34,000 Financing already in place: $25,500 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Screen Institute Beirut, Lebanon • The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Post-Production Looking For: Shooting Format: HD • Additional post-production funding Contact Runtime: 75 min • Distribution Sarah Francis Genre: Essay Documentary, Road Trip [email protected] Language: Arabic

112 113 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY COMPANY PROFILE Feature Experimental / Essay This project was born from the Born in Lebanon, Reine Mitri When Djinn House Productions I Sold My Land story of the sale of my land and studied business administration was founded in 1995, it was one Fall Grant 2012 from my suffering because of the and later attended several of the few production companies ‘Bihto Ardi’, Lebanon, Qatar, 2013 sectarianism that interferes with workshops on documentary to emerge in post-war Lebanon, every aspect of our lives. After filmmaking and production. and it quickly became a reference Selling land in my Christian village to a Muslim has taken Reine Mitri two years of research and writing, Between 1999 and 2006, she for the local film industry, me on a journey into Lebanon’s sectarian reality, where Director / Screenwriter this film has become part of my was active as a cine-club producing features, short films, relations between communities are marked by fear, hatred life and, at the same time, is about programmer and film-festival documentaries, music videos and violence. my life and the lives of those who, organiser (primarily Docudays). and commercials. In 2000, Djinn like me, suffer from a painful Since 2001, she has written and House began to specialise in post- reality and fear a new civil war. directed four films and has also production while maintaining its It is also my attempt to put worked as project co-ordinator production activities, and now together the torn pieces of at the Fondation Liban Cinéma. works closely with independent my own memory and my She currently works at Screen filmmakers in order to make Michèle Tyan country’s collective memory, Institute Beirut. quality films that respect the Producer while Lebanon’s communities identity of each individual project. continue to fight over a history that has yet to be written.

In 2009, I sold my land in my village in South Lebanon to a Muslim, stirring a sectarian discourse around myself and laying bare the territorial war over the land’s identity, where today’s stories of demographic fear between Christians, Shiites and Sunni Muslims are mixed with stories from the civil war, when people were killed according to their identity. In this FINANCIAL INFORMATION film, I combine elements of my individual memory and my country’s history. And, in parallel with the geographical journey, Total Budget: $64,190 Current Status: Production I transform my apartment into an exhibition space with photos Financing already in place: $19,000 Looking For: Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Additional financing, especially a foreign and maps on my walls, a video projection, an audio installation • Djinn House Productions, Lebanon producer to apply for foreign funds and readings from history books. • Doha Film Institute, Qatar • Co-financing or a pre-buy from an Arab or foreign broadcaster

Contact Reine Mitri Furn el Chebbak Shooting Format: HD Beirut, Lebanon Runtime: 90 min T: +9613301363 Genre: Creative Documentary, Identity, Politics [email protected] Language: Arabic

114 115 Production DIRECTOR’S NOTE DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Short Experimental / Essay ‘That Which is Coming’ is not Sophia Al-Maria is a Qatari- That Which Is Coming a typical narrative project. It American writer and artist. Spring Grant 2012 draws from the rich history of Her first book, ‘The Girl Who Fell ‘That Which Is Coming’, Qatar experimental cinema, and plays to Earth’, is due to be released by with the idea of the future in line Harper Collins in late 2012, and A meditation on the changing role of women in the Gulf Sophia Al-Maria with the work of my hero, Chris her art has been shown around region, which casts woman as the elemental connection Director / Screenwriter / Producer Marker. I will utilise the simplest the world at The New Museum in between life and death, Earth and the stars, past and future. details and abstraction by New York City, the Contemporary including images of feet, hands Art Museum in Kitakishyu, Japan, and hair. The main hurdle of the and the Architectural Association project will be negotiating access in London. This fall, she makes to the Phantom camera, which is her Biennale debut at Gwanju in currently at the National Museum. Korea, with ‘From Dreams…to I want to use this unique camera Reality’. in order to maintain vivid attention to detail and create a feeling of awe in the audience. ‘That Which Is Coming’ is the first of what I hope will be a series of works.

‘That Which Is Coming’ is an experimental video installation shot with a Phantom camera. It explores the elemental power of female movement. Like a rain dance created to end a drought, the film is a calling for the future. I hope to inspire the courage inspired by witnessing or performing the traditional Haka war cry. The project is a moving triptych of bodies in movement. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Total Budget: $18,500 Financing already in place: $7,500 Financial Partners (already confirmed): • Doha Film Institute, Qatar

Current Status: Production

Shooting Format: HD Runtime: 10 min Genre: Fantasy, Female Director, Women, Women Interest, Women Issues Exhibition Format: Unknown Language: No Dialogue

116 117 INDEX Aicha Bonheur 10 Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf 30 Ala Mad Al Basar 28 Matoub Lounès: The Story of a Legend 74 Alger by Night (Experience) 12 Matoub Lounès. Histoire d’un légende 74 Algiers by Night (Experiment) 12 Maudit soit le phosphate 54 Ali, the Goat, and Ibrahim 14 Memories on Stone 34 Ali Mea’za’ 14 Me, Myself and Murdoch 32 Amour idéal, L’ 26 Moug 82 Ana Hurriya 68 Nagamat Wa Extras 80 Barodeh Khasheb 50 One Week Ago, Today 36 Bastard, The 16 Al Oustadh 40 Bâtarde, La 16 Pharaohs de l’Egypte moderne, Les 60 Bihto Ardi 114 Pillow Secrets 38 Blessed Benefit 18 Playtime 96 Concert in Beirut, A 20 Professor 40 Control 90 Quand chez soi… devient l’enfer 86 Control Room 90 Red Valentine 42 Cursed Be the Phosphate 54 Sarirou Al Assrar 38 Dancing Beirut 110 Salaam Plenty 76 Day I Lost My Shadow, The 22 Selma 98 Democracy Year Zero 56 Shelter 44 Democratie année zéro 56 Somebody Clap For Me 78 Desert Fish, The 92 Songe d’un habitant de Djelfa, Le 58 Die Welt 24 Stars and Extras 80 Djelfa-Dweller’s Dream, A 58 Tariq 100 Egypt’s Modern Pharaohs 60 Terraces 46 El Jem3am El Madyesh Mitl El Yom 36 That Which Is Coming 116 Embers 62 Third Hand, The 102 Encounters 112 Though I Know the River Is Dry 104 Endama Adaa’to Zelli 22 Un concert à Beyrouth 20 Estouh 46 Valley, The 48 Fils étranger, Le 66 Al Wadi 48 First Supper, The 64 Waves 82 Foreign Son, The 66 What Comes Around 84 Freedom Fields 68 When Home… Becomes Hell 86 Gaddafi’s Girls 70 Wooden Rifle 50 Al Gami’ya 84 Yassine 106 Gaza 36mm 72 Yom Il-Hob 42 Hout Essahra 92 Ideal Love 26 Inshallah Estafadit 18 Ismail 94 I Sold My Land 114 Line of Sight 28 Lyad Ttalta 102 colophon

Published by: Doha Film Institute PO Box 23473, Doha, Qatar

Publications: Jill Robson Elly Cardwell Jasmin Naji

Design: Raymond Bobar Cătălina Zlotea Mona Kamel Myriam Arab Roger Swindale Tom Howse

Editors: Nicholas Davies – Editor Alexander Wood – Copy Editor Nick Roddick – Copy Editor

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