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Netflix's psychological thriller The Sand Castleis much more than the average deserted-island survival story. Akin to past entries within the subgenre like Lost and Sweatheart, the film does include its typical plotlines, like having characters withstand harsh elements, attempt different methods of escape, and encounter eerie happenings. However, the streaming service's Lebanese drama differs in its focus — using these tropes as a backdrop to explore the mind at war.

Directed by Matty Brown, known for short films like The Distraction, The Sand Castle follows a fractured family of four trying to survive alone on a remote island somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Luckily, they have a working lighthouse to take refuge in and attract rescue. However, as the days pass without any word from the outside world, their survival becomes uncertain, tensions rise, and the once idyllic sanctuary gradually reveals a shocking reality.

Additionally, throughout the film, the truth...

The Sand Castle, a Lebanese family drama, is currently climbing up the Netflix streaming chart after releasing on the platform earlier this month. The film follows a family stranded on an island, attempting to survive the dangerous landscape and the deterioration of the mind that comes with it. Featuring a talent cast and crew, The Sand Castle quietly made its debut last week, but it has rather quickly swept up audiences with a visually-inspired drama that is as thrilling as it is emotional.

As of this writing, The Sand Castle reached as high as the #2 spot on Netflix's most watched movies during the past few days (via Flix Patrol). It's unclear if it will hold that spot for an extended period of time, or climb even higher, but it seems subscribers are readily flocking to the survival picture. Focused on a family of four stranded on a deserted island, a...

A young girl named Jana is stranded with her family on a small patch of land somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. They’ve taken shelter in a lighthouse, where Jana spends her days playing in the sand while the family notices strange occurrences: Jana sees a body bag floating by the shore; her mother hears a radio broadcast confirming dozens of migrants have drowned between Greece and Turkey; their radio breaks, leaving them with no connection to the outside world. As they struggle to accept their fates, their circumstances deteriorate.

The Lebanese drama The Sand Castle, from director Matty Brown (2020’s The Distraction), follows this family of four as their pasts are slowly revealed, while their futures hang in the balance. Starring Oscar nominee Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, and Zain and Riman Al Rafeea, the film was written by Brown, Hend Fakhroo (The Waiting Room), and Yassmina Karajah (Rupture). This...

Movies where it’s revealed that the whole plot was happening in the protagonist’s head all along can be very hit or miss. Yes, yes, I know that Albus Dumbledore told Harry Potter that even though their conversation was happening in the latter’s head, it didn’t make it any less real. Yet, using that as a plot twist always makes the whole exercise a little cheap, and the only way to kind of bypass that feeling is by engrossing the audience in the narrative to such an extent that the last-minute attempt at recontextualizing the events doesn’t even matter. For example, there’s The Wizard of Oz, which is such a magical film that the knowledge that it was all a dream is borderline irrelevant. Stay, Ghost Stories, Donnie Darko, and Identity kind of make more sense when you find out that it was all being imagined by someone.

The movie “The Sand Castle,” directed by Matty Brown, is a 2024 thriller and mystery drama set in Lebanon. The film follows a family of four who find themselves trapped on an idyllic island that harbors a shocking reality. The screenplay, crafted by Matty Brown, Hend Fakhroo, and Yassmina Karajah, delves into themes of family relationships and survival. The cast features notable actors such as Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, and Zain Al Rafeea, with music composed by West Thordson and Kat Vokes. Cinematography by Jeremy Snell enhances the film’s atmospheric tension. Produced as a co-production between Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, the movie is distributed by Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Netflix.

“The Sand Castle,” is available from this Friday on Netflix

Where to Watch “The Sand Castle”

Netflix...

“The Sand Castle” is made up of intentionally simple elements: an abandoned island, a creaky old lighthouse, an intermittently working radio. And at its center is a family of four: a doting mother, a resourceful father, a moody teen son and a daydreaming daughter. Their survival depends on the increasingly Sisyphean task of waiting and scavenging, hoping and praying. Help, they hope, will soon come their way. But what at first feels like a modern-day “Robinson Crusoe” adventure soon turns into something darker and altogether more timely. While Matty Brown’s dreamy film plays more like a children’s fable than the harrowing thriller it sometimes flirts with becoming, its oblique stab at storytelling ends up muddling its ambitious vision and well-intended message.

Survival stories hinge on the grit and resilience of its characters. Food is scarce and fresh water elusive. Sleep is near impossible and shelter close to untenable.

Netflix has officially boarded “The Sand Castle” that sees Lebanese multi-hyphenate Nadine Labaki reunite on screen with “Capernaum” siblings Zain and Reman Al Rafeea.

The streaming giant has set a Jan. 24, 2025, global drop date for the hotly anticipated thriller.

U.S. director Matty Brown — whose shorts have won accolades — makes his feature film debut with “The Sand Castle” which is the tale of an Arabic family of four stuck on a seemingly idyllic island. There, the family begins to uncover dark secrets that they struggle to keep from their youngest, Jana.

“As events spiral out of control and the line between reality and fiction blurs, the family is forced to confront harsh truths and difficult choices, testing their resilience and their hopes of making it back home,” says the provided synopsis.

The film’s ensemble cast also features Palestinian actor Ziad Bakri (“Meet the Barbarians”).

Brown co-wrote “Sand Castle” with...

They join previously announced directors James Gray, Jessica Hausner and sound editor Mark Mangini.

French director Claire Denis and Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael have been confirmed as the final ‘Masters’ at the sixth edition of Qumra, the annual talent incubator event of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi), running March 20 to 25 this year.

They will join previously announced Us director James Gray, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and awarding winning sound editor Mark Mangini. The five ‘Masters’ give a master-class as well as one-on-one advice to select Dfi-supported projects invited to the event.

Denis, whose most recent credits include High Life and Let The Sunshine In,...

Qatari institute supports a record 42 projects in autumn funding round.

Moroccan director Hicham Lasri, Syrian Venice Lion of the Future winner Soudade Kaadan and Brazil’s Karim Aïnouz are among the latest round of new grantees of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi).

The Qatari institute has announced a record 42 projects for its autumn 2019 selection, 35 of which have strong Middle East and North Africa connections.

Prolific director Lasri, whose last work Jahilya screened in the Berlinale Forum in 2018, received backing for his upcoming supernatural TV series Meskoun.

The fantasy drama revolves around a Moroccan man who drowns crossing the Mediterranean on...

They join the previously announced Agnès Varda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Pawel Pawlikowski.

Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher and Mexican Academy Award-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero have been confirmed as the final two masters at the fifth edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event, which runs March 15-20 this year.

The pair join three previously announced masters: iconic French director Agnès Varda, Japanese filmmaker and writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, who is Oscar nominated this year for Cold War.

Caballero’s 30-plus film credits include Jim Jarmusch’s The Limit Of Control, Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.

Qatari institution unveils 34 projects selected for its 2108 spring grants cycle.

Oscar-nominated documentarian Feras Fayyad, Palestinian actress and director Hiam Abbass and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Ely Dagher are among the new grantees of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) in its spring 2018 funding round.

Fayyad has won backing for The Cave, the second film in a trilogy which began with his Oscar-nominated documentary Last Men in Aleppo, while Abbass has clinched funding for her second feature Girl Made of Dust, about a 10-year-old girl who escapes into her imagination to escape the ravages of war.

Dagher has won funding for...

They join Zvyagintsev, Weerasethakul and Rosi for event, which runs March 9-14.

Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell and Us director Bennett Miller have been named as the final two masters at the Doha Film Institute’s talent and project event Qumra, running March 9-14.

Organisers the Doha Film Institute also unveiled details of the 34 projects from 25 countries – in various stages of production - that have been selected to attend the event.

They include Weldi, the upcoming feature by Tunisian director Mohamed Ben Attia, whose picture Hedi won best first feature at the Berlinale in 2016, as well as Palestinian-British director Basil Khalil’s A Gaza Weekend, his feature debut feature after Oscar-nominated short Ave Maria.

Powell and Miller join previously announced masters Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, Thai filmmaker Apitchatpong Weerasethakul and Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi who will mentor participants attending the bespoke meeting aimed at first and second time filmmakers.

The five masters will attend the event unfolding in and...

The following missive comes from one of the several filmmakers in Qatar that I have been writing about when I asked how it was going there.It’s been nearly a month since the blockade happened. This first came as a huge shock to us. I always thought that the Gcc was a united brotherhood, we have so much in common and we have been through history together.I’m currently in Qatar and there’s a real sense of community here. We are all doing well and coping the best way we can.I personally felt shocked and hurt about the news in the beginning. I don’t have family from the countries leading the blockade, but I have very close filmmaker friends that I saw as my film-making community, we support each other and wanted to work on projects together.Unfortunately now it’s becoming harder and if...

I, Daniel Blake, The Salesman, Under the Shadow and Fire at Sea will also screen at youth-focused festival.

The fourth edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Ajyal Youth Film Festival (Nov 30-Dec 5) kicks off this week with the Mena debut and gala screening of UK director Otto Bell’s Mongolia-set documentary The Eagle Huntress (pictured).

The father and daughter tale about a young girl who defies social convention and the elements of Mongolia’s Altai Mountains to become her community’s first female eagle hunting champion premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

It is among a number of Academy Award hopefuls screening at the youth-focused event alongside Under The Shadow, The Salesman, The Idol and Fire At Sea.

Festival director and CEO of the Doha Film Institute Fatma Al Remaihi said the tale of female empowerment at the heart of The Eagle Huntress chimed with Ajyal’s focus on “positive social change” this edition.

“We’re delighted...

I, Daniel Blake, The Salesman, Under the Shadow and Fire at Sea will also screen at youth-focused festival.

The fourth edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Ajyal Youth Film Festival (Nov 30-Dec 5) kicks off this week with the Mena debut and gala screening of UK director Otto Bell’s Mongolia-set documentary The Eagle Huntress (pictured).

The father and daughter tale about a young girl who defies social convention and the elements of Mongolia’s Altai Mountains to become her community’s first female eagle hunting champion premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

It is among a number of Academy Award hopefuls screening at the youth-focused event alongside Under The Shadow, The Salesman, The Idol and Fire At Sea.

Festival director and CEO of the Doha Film Institute Fatma Al Remaihi said the tale of female empowerment at the heart of The Eagle Huntress chimed with Ajyal’s focus on “positive social change” this edition.

“We’re delighted...

The Doha Film Institute has announced the recipients of the Fall 2015 session of its grants program following the Dubai International Film Festival, where 15 of the Institute’s previous grantees, 4 of which are world premieres, were showcased. Thirty projects from 19 countries – comprising 16 feature-length narrative films, 10 feature documentaries and 4 short films – will receive funding for development, production or post-production.

The Fall session marks the 11th session of the grants program, which is dedicated to supporting new cinematic talent, with a focus on first- and second-time filmmakers.

Twenty-four of the projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, while 6 are from the rest of the world. For the first time, filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain will receive funding from the program.

Stories of displacement, physical or spiritual journeys, tales of family life, the power of nature and the importance of protecting the environment are highlighted in the selections this Fall.

Four projects from Qatar-based filmmakers were awarded grants – Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl," about a young pearl diver from Doha who discovers a map to the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenage friends in search of it; Hamida Al Kawari’s "To the Ends of the Earth" – the first Qatari feature documentary to receive a grant from the Institute – which follows a Qatari woman on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope; A.J. Al Thani’s "Kashta," a family drama about a father who takes his sons out into the desert to teach them about hunting and survival; and Hend Fakhroo’s "The Waiting Room," about an Arab and a Western family who find themselves sharing a hospital room.

Among the 30 projects selected for funding, 5 are from Morocco – Fyzal Boulifa’s "Pagan Magic," the story of a poor youngster working as a maid for a middle-class family; second-time grantee Uda Benyamina’s "Bastard," about a 15-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb; Yakout Elhababi’s "Behind the Doors," which looks at family life and childhood set high in the Rif mountains of Morocco; Hind Bensari’s "Weight Throwers," a documentary look at the struggles of two young athletes as they train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro; and "Behind The Wall," by Karima Zoubir, a short film set in a Casablanca slum.

Also featuring strongly are three animation projects – established filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour’s "Miss Camel," the story of a teenage Saudi camel who challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by travelling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha; Mortada Gzar’s "Language," about a blind man on the streets of Baghdad who wakes up as a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch; and Hafiz Ali Abdullah’s "The Search for the Star Pearl."

As in several previous sessions of the grants program, powerful projects from Argentina have also secured funding. Milagros Mumenthaler’s Swiss/Argentinian film "The Idea of a Lake" is about a photographer who undergoes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father while creating a book of her work, while Maximiliano Schonfeld’s "The Black Frost" is a drama set on a plantation where a pernicious black frost threatens to devastate the countryside until a mysterious woman arrives.

Continuing the environmental theme, Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel’s "When Two Worlds Collide" is the story of an indigenous Peruvian man and his people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest. The film, which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is the first-ever Peruvian recipient of a grant from the Institute.

Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Our Fall grantees cover a broad range of subjects and represent some powerful new voices in cinema, especially from Qatar and North Africa with several projects supported from Morocco and Algeria.”

“Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we support two other animated projects in this grants cycle as well.”

“Our grantees represent the core of the Doha Film Institute’s mandate to support emerging filmmakers and contribute to the development of the regional film industry. We have supported more than 255 films since the inception of the grants program and we continue to seek out projects with a strong directorial vision that are challenging, creative and thought-provoking. Our new round of grantees is no exception and I am delighted to welcome this outstanding crop of projects to our growing community of grantee alumni.”

Submissions for the next funding round open January 6 and close January 19, 2016. Funding is available to projects by filmmakers from around the world, with an emphasis on support for filmmakers from the Mena region. Certain categories of funding reserved for Mena and Qatari filmmakers.

The fund is primarily for first and second-time filmmakers. Post-production funding is available to established filmmakers from the Mena region.

For more information about eligibility and submissions, please visit

http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/grants/guidelines

A full directory of past grant recipients is available to view at

http://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants

The Doha Film Institute Grants Program funding recipients for the Fall 2015 session are:

Feature Narrative / Development

"Death Street" by Mohanad Hayal (Iraq)

Tariq, the sniper of Haifa Street in Baghdad, kills Ahmed on his wedding day. While Tariq prevents anyone from approaching the corpse in the street, an intimate and telling drama unfolds.

"Miss Camel" by Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudia Arabia)

A teenage Saudi camel challenges the deep-rooted restrictions of her culture by traveling across the kingdom to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant in Doha.

"Pagan Magic" by Fyzal Boulifa (Morocco, France)

A young, poor and uneducated girl works as a maid for a middle-class family in contemporary Morocco. Her use of pagan rites to confront her entrapment and make sense of her world ultimately corrupt her.

"The Search for the Star Pearl" by Hafiz Ali Abdullah (Qatar)

Ali, a 17-year-old pearl diver from Doha, discovers a map to the Star Pearl of Abu Derya, the most valuable gem on Earth, and sets sail with three teenaged friends in search of the pearl. Along the way, they face mythological beasts that challenge their skills and friendship.

Feature Narrative / Production

"Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy (Egypt)

A flood leaves three Cairenes homeless. As they journey across the city in search of shelter, they depend upon one another to survive and keep their dreams alive.

"Poisonous Roses" by Fawzi Saleh (Egypt)

The world has left nothing to Taheya apart from her brother Saqr. When he disappears, Taheya pursues him in desperation.

"The Return" by Meyar Al-Roumi (Syria, France)

A love story blossoms between Taysir and Lina, exiles from Syria, while they drive across their homeland to bury Taysir’s brother, a victim of the armed conflict.

"Till the Swallows Return" by Karim Moussaoui (Algeria, France)

This is the story of three characters who are a product of the conflicted Algeria of the 2000s. Their ideals shattered and their moral strength drained, each now faces a difficult life choice.

Feature Narrative / Post-production

"Bastard" by Uda Benyamina (Morocco, France)

Fifteen-year-old Dounia lives with her mother in a rough Parisian suburb, where she has been saddled with the nickname “bastard”.

"The Black Frost" by Maximiliano Schonfeld (Argentina)

Soon after a mysterious woman arrives on a plantation, a pernicious black frost ceases to devastate the countryside. Hope emerges. Might she might be a saviour?

"Blue Bicycle" by Ümit Köreken (Turkey)

Young Ali saves up all the money he can working at a tyre repair shop to buy a coveted blue bicycle. Meanwhile, at school, his love for his schoolmate Elif leads him to defend her dismissal as school president. A story of childish love, dreams and resistance.

"The Dark Wind" by Hussein Hassan (Iraq)

Radical Islamists attack a village in Iraq where two young Yazidis are preparing for their marriage. At that moment, their lives become a nightmare.

"The Idea of a Lake" (note: previously titled Air Pocket) by Milagros Mumenthaler (Switzerland, Argentina)

Inés, a photographer, is creating a book of her work. Gradually, the process becomes a personal exploration of her past and the absence of her father, who was disappeared during the military dictatorship in Argentina.

"The Mimosas" by Oliver Laxe (Spain, Morocco, France)

In the Atlas Mountains in the past, a caravan searches for the path to take a Sufi master home to die. Among the party is Ahmed, a rascal who eventually becomes inspired to lead the caravan to its destination. Along the way, he is assisted by Shakib, a man sent from contemporary Morocco to guide Ahmed on his journey.

"Rey" (King) by Niles Atallah (Chile)

In 1860, a French lawyer dreamed of becoming the King of Patagonia – and he did just that. Or so it seemed.

"Suspension" by Ala Eddine Slim (Tunisia)

N is a candidate for an illegal crossing of the Mediterranean from Tunisia. A supernatural voyage, during which N will confront Nature and himself, begins.

Feature Documentary / Development

"Agnus Dei" by Karim Sayad (Algeria, Switzerland)

In Algeria, Ali and his sheep, bought for slaughter on Eid Al-Adha, are getting ready for the fight. Once the bets are in, the referee invites the owners into the ring…

"Behind the Doors" by Yakout Elhababi (Morocco)

High in the Rif mountains of Morocco, the people survive by growing kif. Beneath the shadow of the ambiguous legality of the crop, ‘Behind the Doors’ tells the story of a family through its children and their mirroring games.

"The Great Family" by Eliane Raheb (Lebanon)

In 1976, at the age of four, Marlene was put up for adoption in Lebanon and raised in France. In delving into her past, she discovers she is a survivor of the massacre at the Tal Al-Zaatar Palestinian refugee camp, and a family of survivors grows around her.

Feature Documentary / Production

"The Colonel’s Stray Dogs" by Khalid Shamis (Libya, South Africa)

While director Khalid Shamis watched television in his suburban London home, his father was plotting the overthrow of Muammar Gadaffi in his study. When the regime fell, Shamis sought answers about Libya under Gadaffi and his father’s role in its failed liberation.

"Ibrahim" by Lina Alabed (Jordan)

‘Ibrahim’ uncovers the long journey of the director’s father as a young man, when he was a secret member of Abu Nidal, a militant Palestinian revolutionary organisation.

"Searching for Janitou" by Mohamed El Amine hattou (Algeria)

A journey to unravel love in past and contemporary Algeria by exploring the unique phenomenon of a Bollywood film that swept the country in the 1980s.

"To the Ends of the Earth" by Hamida Al Kawari ( Qatar)

A Qatari woman travels on an environmental expedition to Antarctica in search of hope, before returning to the Gulf and finding unity and inspiration for positive change.

"Weight Throwers" by Hind Bensari (Morocco)

‘Weight Thowers’ follows the struggles of Azzedine and Youssef, disabled members of Morocco’s unemployed and disillusioned young generation, as they struggle to train for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Feature Documentary / Post-production

"Tadmor" by Lokman Slim, Monika Borgmann (Lebanon)

A group of Lebanese men re-enact the ordeals they experienced as detainees in Syria’s notorious Tadmor prison. An ode to the human will to survive.

"When Two Worlds Collide" by Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel (Peru)

A story of a man and a people, and of the fate of one of our planet’s most valuable natural resources – the Amazon rainforest.

Short Narrative / Production

"Behind the Wall" by Karima Zoubir (Morocco)

Nadia, a little girl, lives in a Casablanca slum that is surrounded by a wall. One day, the municipality begins to paint the wall – but why this sudden interest?

"Kashta" by A.J. Al Thani (Qatar)

A father takes his two sons out to the desert to learn about hunting and survival, but the results are not quite what he was expecting.

"Language" by Mortada Gzar (Iraq)

An old blind man walks throught the streets of Baghdad, then falls asleep while reading a book in Braille. When he wakes up, he finds he has become a giant and reads the devastation of the city by touch.

"The Waiting Room" by Hind Fakhroo (Qatar)

An Arab family and a Western family find themselves sharing a hospital room; the only thing that separates them is a curtain.

Tinatin Kajrishvili, Aida Begic, Hüseyin Karabey films among lineup.

Sarajevo Film Festival’s co-production market CineLink, which will take place during the final days of the festival’s 21st edition (Aug 14-22), has unveiled its full selection.

Nine projects have been added to the previously announced eight, including three guest projects from Qatar, Syria and Russia.

The selection targets projects from established regional names, which are in advanced stage of development and financing.

The line-up includes Georgian director Tinatin Kajrishvili’s Manji, the filmmaker’s second feature after 2014 Berlinale title Brides.

Also featured is A Ballad, the third film by Bosnian film-maker Aida Begić, who won awards at Cannes with Snow in 2008 and Children Of Sarajevo in 2012.

Coming from Turkey is Hamarat Apartment, the new feature by Hüseyin Karabey, whose feature debut My Marlon And Brando received the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress for Ayca Damgaci in 2008, and whose last outing Come To My Voice won the...

Doha Film Institute has hit on a winning formula says filmmakers and top industry experts.

Top industry professionals and emerging filmmakers attending the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra meeting last week have given the inaugural meeting the thumbs up.

The bespoke programme welcomed 29 Dfi-backed projects for six-days of inspirational master-classes, seminars, work-in-progress screenings and hands-on ones-on-ones with some of the world’s top filmmaking talent.

The some 100 industry professionals at Qumra included Toronto International Film Festival artistic director Cameron Bailey, Film and Music Entertainment F&Me CEO Mike Downey, Visit Films founder Ryan Kampe and Jason Kliot of Open City Films.

Kliot said: “I love this formula. I think it’s really successful. I’ve been to all the events - in Rotterdam, Berlin and in New York during independent film week - and I think they all have strengths and weaknesses but what I find here is that the creators have been incredibly intelligent in keeping...

Mexican actor joins lists of ‘masters’ for Dfi’s inaugural Qumra event, which will see 31 projects from 29 countries involved.

Mexican actor, director and producer Gael Garcia Bernal has joined the list of ‘masters’ for the Doha Film Institute’s inaugural Qumra event, running March 6-11.

The masters previously reported in December are Abderrahmane Sissako, Leila Hatami Cristian Mungiu and Danis Tanović. “They represent different regions and different types of cinema, they all have mastered their craft,” Dfi CEO Fatma Al Remaihi told Screen. “But they are also all passionate to share their experience to help the next generation.”

Dfi has announced the 31 projects from 29 countries selected for Qumra, including 23 narrative features, four feature documentaries and four short films. There are 22 projects who are supported by Dfi and a further nine from Qatari independent filmmakers.

A total of 19 of the projects are in development with the rest in post production.

The 31 projects (full list below) include the story...

Following the international acclaim of two Doha Film Institute-funded films at the recent Venice Film Festival, the Institute has announced the recipients of its Spring 2014 grants that include 12 projects from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region out of a total of 21 projects from 14 countries. Highlighting the steady strides made by the Qatari film industry, four projects by filmmakers in Qatar have been selected to receive grants. These include Parijat(Night-flowering Jasmine), a feature-length narrative by Qatari director Hend Fakhroo; the first-of-its-kind reality web series Dr. Hamood Show by Qatari production company, Innovation Films; Remembering Ada,...

The Doha Film Institute has unveiled the spring recipients from its film grants programme, backing 21 projects from 14 countries.

Four projects from Qatar are included, and Turkish and Georgian filmmakers receive grants for the first time. 12 projects come from the Mena region.

The breakdown in backed projects is: 12 narrative feature films, 6 feature documentaries, 2 short films (one narrative and one documentary), and a web series.

The Dfi received 360 applications for this eighth funding session.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Acting CEO of Doha Film Institute, said: “After the success our granted films Theeb and Sivas met in Venice, we are really excited about this next round of projects, which reflect some compelling new voices in cinema. Our jurors were impressed by the range of stories and the diversity of the backgrounds of the filmmakers who submitted work.

“We are also pleased to see so many strong narrative and documentary projects being submitted by women, whose projects...