Eight films supported by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) have been officially selected to participate in the 2020 Venice International Film Festival, which runs until September 12.
Set to be one of the first major international festivals held since the coronavirus pandemic began, the Venice Film Festival will feature 60 films only and new outdoor screening locations.
The diverse line-up of DFI-supported films selected to the festival comprises exciting works from emerging and established filmmakers including six from the Arab world, one from Italy, and one from Turkey. Of the eight projects, five films screen in key sections at the Festival, including official competition, Horizons, Critics Week and Venice Days and three projects are selected to the Festival’s industry and market initiatives.
The only documentary filmmaker to win the Golden Lion in 2013, Italian director, cinematographer, producer and screenwriter Gianfranco Rosi returns to Venice with his fifth documentary Notturno, co-financed by the Institute, which is an immersive portrait of those trying to survive in a war-torn Middle East and a mesmerising vision of a region on the verge of change.
Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of DFI, said: “We are deeply proud to support projects that were selected to an exclusive selection at the first international film festival of this year since the pandemic. To be considered amongst the 60 films in this year’s reduced lineup speaks to the compelling visual content and storytelling techniques of each of the eight projects. More so, this is the first major physical market event for three of the DFI-supported titles. They are moving portrayals that exist within a space of true artistic discovery and deep-felt humanity. I congratulate the exceptional directors and teams behind these cinematic productions on their journey at the prestigious Venice Film Festival and beyond.”
Gaza Mon Amour (Palestine, France, Germany, Portugal, Qatar) by twin brothers Tarzan Abunasser and Arab Abunasser is competing in the Orizzonti official section (Horizons). The film is a satire on love and desire, and an affirmation that life continues amidst the absurdity of living.
Azra Deniz Okyay’s feature debut Ghosts (Turkey, Qatar) will compete in the festival’s prestigious Critics Week Programme. The film follows four characters from very different walks of life, who cross paths through a web of drug trafficking in Istanbul.
In 200 Meters (Palestine, Jordan, France, Germany, Italy, Qatar) by Ameen Nayfeh, part of the parallel programme Venice Days, a Palestinian man living on the West Bank and separated from his hospitalised son by the wall must embark on a harrowing journey to see him.
Premiering in the Orizzonti Short Films Competition, Meriem Mesraoua’s Under Her Skin (Qatar, Algeria, France) follows a young girl in Algeria that slowly regains control over her actions and projected image to the world.
Razan AlSalah’s experimental VR film, The Greatest Wait (Palestine, France, Canada, Qatar) is among the international projects selected for the 2020 Venice Gap-Financing Market initiative. The film follows Zei, a 3rd generation Palestinian refugee, who returns to her ancestral home Haifa through virtual reality, the only way she can see Palestine.
Final Cut in Venice, which runs as part of the Venice Production Bridge, will feature Salah Al Ashkar’s Our Choices (Syria, France, Qatar). It chronicles the siege of Aleppo in 2016 by Bashar Al Assad’s forces and is shot from within the city by Al Ashkar — simultaneously witness and protagonist. Also part of the workshop is Ely Dagher’s first feature Harvest (Lebanon, France, Belgium, USA, Qatar) about a young Palestinian woman, who struggles to fit back into old family dynamics whilst details of her life abroad weigh heavy on her.