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Three months ago, Doha’s new Downtown Msheireb district was the throbbing heart of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as one of its main fan zones.

Quiz any local on the street or in its cafes and shops about what it was like, and their faces light up as they recount how packed it was and the magical atmosphere.

Billed as the world’s first sustainable downtown regeneration project, the pedestrianized neighborhood is now acting as the backdrop to the Doha Film Institute’s annual Qumra talent incubator, alongside the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art (Mia).

The event, which kicked off on Friday, aims to hothouse 44 film and series projects in various formats and stages of production. All the projects are recipients of the Dfi’s generous grant program

The focus is on Middle East and North African filmmakers but there are also projects from further afield...

Sundance prize winner Sofia Alaoui, Yemeni-Scottish Oscar-nominee Sara Ishaq and Emmy-feted Egyptian cinematographer Muhammad Hamdy will be among filmmakers presenting projects at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event, unfolding in Qatar March 10-15.

The nine edition of the talent incubator aimed at Dfi grantee filmmakers will showcase 44 projects from 23 countries as it returns as a physical event for the first time since 2019.

Moroccan-French director Alaoui, who won Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Creative Vision for her fantasy drama Animalia in January, attends with a new series which is in development.

Titled Let The Earth Burn, it revolves around a police academy graduate who is posted to a remote town in the Atlas Mountains despite coming top of her year.

Ishaq, who was Oscar-nominated for short film Karama Has No Walls, will present her second feature project The Station set against a women-only gas station in a gender-segregated village in war-torn Yemen.

This year’s edition takes place in-person March 10-15 and online March 19-21.

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has revealed the 44 projects that will participate in the ninth edition of its annual talent incubator Qumra which takes place in-person March 10-15 and online March 19-21.

The selected projects come from 23 different countries and comprise 14 feature narratives, 12 feature documentaries, seven series and 11 shorts.

Two feature debuts from Oscar-nominated filmmakers are among the participants. Motherhood from Meryam Joobeur, whose Ikhwène was nominated for best live-action short in 2020, and The Station from Sara Ishaq, whose Karma Has No Walls was nominated for best...

"We don't have a map, we don't have a cell phone. We are in the middle of nowhere." We're back with another trailer round-up, this time highlighting one couple's hellish hike in Backcountry, the Lovecraftian love of Spring, and the blood-splattered bubble-gum sweetness of Fox's Scream Queens TV series.

Backcountry: In Backcountry, a city-based couple experience the real life horror of being utterly lost in the woods where only the wildlife can hear you scream. Seeking a way back to civilization, they intrude on a black bear’s territory and soon have the hulking beast hot on their trail. Written and directed by Adam MacDonald, Backcountry stars Missy Peregrym, Jeff Roop, and Eric Balfour, and will receive a theatrical and VOD release from IFC Midnight on March 20th.

"Based on a true story, Backcountry follows an urban couple who go camping in the Canadian wilderness - where unimaginable beauty...

Welcome to another horror news round-up! This time around we have release details for the Lovecraftian love story Spring and the wilderness-based horror movie Backcountry, as well as acquisition details on the Kevin Durand-starring Dark Was the Night.

The latest film from the directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Resolution), Spring stars Lou Taylor Pucci (2013’s Evil Dead) and Nadia Hilker (The Other Wife) and will be released by Drafthouse Films in theaters and on VOD beginning March 20th:

Press Release – “Drafthouse Films is immensely proud to present Spring, the stunning new genre-defying supernatural love story from directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Resolution), in U.S. theaters and on VOD March 20th!

Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci, Evil Dead, Thumbsucker) is a young American fleeing to Europe to escape his past. While backpacking along the Italian coast, everything changes during a stop at an idyllic Italian village,...