DOHA QATAR’S first festival celebrating French language films will run from March 7 to 13 at Katara the Cultural Village. The event being organised at Katara’s Drama Theatre, Building 16, by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) in cooperation with The French Institute, the Embassy of France in Qatar and with the support of the embassies of Belgium, Canada and Switzerland is called The Francophone Cinema Week (La Semaine du Cinema Francophone).
DFI Resident Filmmaker and Programmer Chadi Zeneddine said that the idea of this event took root a year ago during a discussion with a French embassy team on the need to bring more French and French language films to the audience in Qatar.
The embassy’s Cultural Advisor Regis Dantaux and Audiovisual Attaché Julia Lepert, explained that this event is being organised to celebrate French language and francophone culture in its diversity and will entertain cinema lovers with a selection of the finest films of contemporary cinema. It will offer a wide variety of cinematic styles ranging from fiction, animation and comedy.
“With Qatar officially joining the International Organisation of La Francophonie in October 2012, we felt that it made sense to organise a Francophone event in Qatar. And with the growing French speaking community in Qatar, which currently is around 200,000 strong, it was worth the challenge to organise this very first film Week. We hope that this valuable experience will be a successful one as a first step towards making this an annual celebration,” he explained.
Régis noted that the film week is not limited to Francophone countries; rather, it is a celebration of the diversity of the international French speaking community with no geographical boundaries.
“It is important to note that this does not just celebrate the Francophone organisation, but rather the French Language, we have included films from countries that are not necessarily members of the International Organisation of La Francophonie. In our film selection, we have attempted to represent the diversity in the French speaking community and we have films from Belgium, Algeria, Senegal, Switzerland, Canada and of course France. And we are highlighting Africa as an important part of this community with a special offer on three films f r o m Morocco, Al g e r i a a n d Senegal,” he added.
Zeneddine explained that organising the event was very challenging and hoped that hard work will pay off with the success of the film week. “Sometimes people tend to take the hard work that happens behind the scenes for granted, it took us a year of hard work, manpower and negotiations to organise this event; but we feel very passionately about, this is an event that you do not want to miss,” he explained.
Chadi also explained that the selection process was also another challenge they had to overcome as they attempted to present the best quality of films and represent the diversity of the French speaking community.
“This is not a festival, this is about bringing to the Qatar audience important French language films, it is not about the glitz and glamour, but it’s about celebrating good cinema,” he explained.
The opening night will feature two very interesting films: the film Amour (Love), which won the Palme d’Or in 2012 and five nominations for an Oscar in 2013, will open the festival in a exclusive premiere screening in Qatar to give the community here the chance to an unforgettable experience,” he stated.
The second film of the opening night is Champs Elysees, I love you (Champs Elysees Je t’aime), which is a short film directed by a Qatari filmmaker, Mahdi Ali. He studied for his master of fine arts degree at the international Film School of Paris, Eicar.
“Since Qatar has recently joined the Francophone organisation, we feel this film is a great way to open the French film week as we at DFI try to create a platform to support local filmmakers,” he further said.
He explained that all films are subtitled in both English and Arabic, and that there are films for everyone and for all ages as young as 3 years old.
“We are screening ‘Ernest et Célestine’ which is an animation film about an unlikely friendship between a bear, Ernest, and a young mouse named Celestine. The film has won the French Oscar for best animated film,” he explained.
For more information and for ticket purchase visit dohafilminstitute.com/francophone
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