The Doha Film Institute will present a showcase of three films by internationally renowned filmmaker Elia Suleiman on February 20 and 21 at the Museum of Islamic Art auditorium.
The cinematic showcase will highlight the illustrious career of the celebrated director, and actor who also serves as the Institute’s Artistic Adviser.
The screening series will open with Suleiman’s first feature film, ‘Chronicle of a Disappearance’ (1996), which won the Best First Film prize at the Venice Film Festival. The second film in the series is ‘Divine Intervention’ (2002), Suleiman’s second feature, which solidified his status as an icon of contemporary filmmaking, winning the Jury Prize and the International Film Critics Prize at the Festival de Cannes, as well as the Best Foreign Film Prize at the European Awards in Rome; it was also Palestine’s submission to the Academy Awards in 2003.
The third film in the series is ‘The Time That Remains’ (2009), which was selected for the Official Competition at the Festival de Cannes, and won the Black Pearl Award for Best Middle Eastern Narrative Film at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival and the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
The showcase is being presented in the lead up to the inaugural edition of Qumra, the Doha Film Institute’s new event dedicated to the mentorship and development of emerging filmmakers which is set to take place March 6 – 11. Alongside the Qumra industry sessions, the event will also include a programme of public screenings curated with input from five Masters of contemporary cinema, featuring their work alongside emerging filmmakers selected from films supported by the Institute’s grants and co-financing programmes.