Sofia Alaoui

Source: Mehdi Sefrioui/Screen International

Sofia Alaoui

Sofia Alaoui’s Tarfaya and post-apocalyptic UK co-production In Memory Of Times To Come are among the 47 projects to receive support from Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (DFI) in its 2024 autumn funding round.

Thirty of the projects are feature fiction and documentary films, with 13 shorts, three TV series and one web series.

Scroll down for the full list of selected features

Tarfaya is the second feature from French-Moroccan filmmaker Alaoui, after her Sundance special jury prize winner Animalia. It sees a mysterious sleeping epidemic in a remote Moroccan town test a dedicated doctor’s resolve.

The project was developed through the Red Sea Film Festival’s Red Sea Lodge and Les Arcs Film Festival’s Coproduction Village last year.

Alaoui was named a Screen Arab Star of Tomorrow in 2022.

In Memory Of Times To Come is the debut feature of UK-based Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour and is being made as a Palestine-Denmark-Malta-UK-Qatar co-production. The narrative feature is set 30 years after an eco apocalypse, when a woman and her husband lead a peaceful life in a restored Bethlehem townhouse.

Post-production titles backed by the DFI include Ancestral Visions of the Future, the new film from This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese. The experimental essay feature is described by the DFI as an ‘exploration of identity, childhood, death, and exile through the eyes of a puppeteer, a mother, a boy, a farmer, and a city’.

“DFI grants have enabled the script-to-screen journey of over 850 important projects in cinema from across the world, that has contributed to the advancement of cinema and the empowerment of underrepresented voices,” said Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute. “The recipients of this cycle represent a remarkable blend of talent, vision, and cultural richness, who will continue to drive progression of the industry to new heights.”

Eleven of the projects originate from Qatari and Qatar-based creatives; with 21 women filmmakers among the receipients, and 21 previous grantees.

DFI events this year include prestigious projects and talent incubator Qumra in early April and the planned launch of the Doha Film Festival in November. Full details about the event will be announced during Cannes in May. 

Doha Film Institue Fall Grants 2024 feature recipients

Synopses provided by the Doha Film Institute

MENA - Feature Narrative – Development

  • Amara (Denmark, France, Lebanon, Qatar) by Michelle Keserwany, is about Darine, a vibrant woman in her mid-thirties who works at a small, politicised radio station in Beirut, where she hosts the morning show.
  • Camera Obscura (Egypt, Germany, Qatar) by Viola Shafik, which is set towards the end of the 1883 cholera epidemic and the onset of the British protectorate in Egypt.
  • Rock, Paper, Sea (Egypt, Qatar) by Randa Ali, a coming-of-age story set by the Egyptian Mediterranean in the summer of 2001.
  • The Good Spirit (Palestine, UK, Qatar) by Razan Madhoon, follows Noor, a 22-year-old strong-willed resident of Gaza who discovers an injured stray dog.

MENA - Feature Narrative – Production

  • In Memory of Times to Come (Palestine, Denmark, Malta, UK, Qatar) by Larissa Sansour, which is set 30 years after an eco-apocalypse, when Alia and her husband Elias lead a peaceful life in a restored townhouse in Bethlehem.
  • Love-45 (Syria, France, Switzerland, Qatar) by Anas Khalaf, the story of Walid, an unhappy Lebanese tennis club handyman who finds an unexpected purpose when tasked with building a court at a Syrian refugee camp.
  • Minkaff (Qatar) by S.M. Al Thani, in which a young Qatari man investigates his friend’s kidnapping during a falcon hunting trip, uncovering connections to a shared childhood incident from two decades ago.
  • Plague (Tunisia, France, Qatar) by Youssef Chebbi, set in Tozeur —a farming town on the edge of the Tunisian desert, where two twin brothers jointly manage a palm grove.
  • Selfless (Qatar, Algeria, France) by Meriem Mesraoua, about a 55-year-old woman, whose life changes when an administrative error invalidates her marriage, forcing her to confront deeper threats to her family’s security.
  • Tarfaya (Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar) by Sofia Alaoui, about a mysterious sleeping epidemic in a remote Moroccan town that tests a dedicated doctor’s resolve as she fights to save her community and the man she loves.
  • The Joyful 1926 (Algeria, France, Qatar) by Damien Ounouri and Adila Bendimerad, set in colonial Algiers, when a Muslim actress defies societal norms to pursue her theatrical dreams.
  • The Pearl (Qatar) by Noor Al-Nasr, tells the story of Khalid, a modern-day, tech-obsessed Qatari teenager, who travels back in time to an era before his beloved technology existed.

MENA - Feature Narrative - Post-Production

  • Exile (Tunisia, Luxembourg, France. Qatar) by Mehdi Hmili, set in an industrial world scarred by tragedy, as a steel factory worker undergoes a haunting transformation after an accident.
  • Songs of Adam (Iraq, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, USA, Qatar) by Oday Rasheed, is a mystical tale set in 1946 about a boy who stops aging after witnessing a ritual, exploring themes of innocence, time, and family bonds.
  • Spring Came On Laughing (Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar) by Noha Adel, in which four interconnected stories unfold during spring, revealing unexpected darkness beneath the season’s renewal.

MENA - Feature Documentary – Development

  • And Still I Rise (Morocco, France, Qatar) by Djanis Bouzyani, about Aravane Rézaï, who hates tennis, but was once ranked the world’s 14th player, and plans a comeback after 13 years.
  • Life After Siham (Egypt, France, Qatar) by Namir Abdel Messeeh, about Namir, a 40-year-old filmmaker, and his journey through grief.
  • The Sixth Story (Iraq, UK, Qatar) by Ahmed Abd, in which the protagonist feels an undeniable urge to revisit a memory he has tried to suppress for 17 long years.

MENA - Feature Documentary - Post-Production

  • Mother of Silence (Iraq, France, Qatar) by Zahraa Ghandour, documents how the director, born and raised in a midwife’s house in Baghdad, witnessed violence against women from an early age.
  • My Armenian Phantoms (Lebanon, France, Armenia, Qatar) by Tamara Stepanyan, a deeply personal exploration following the loss of the director’s father, Vigen Stepanyan.
  • Souraya Mon Amour (Lebanon, Qatar) by Nicolas Khoury, which immerses viewers in the hidden world of Souraya Baghdadi, a realm of dance, cinema, meditation, and questioning.
  • Women of Sin (Morocco, France, Qatar) by Noufissa Chara, which follows Karima Nadir and her collective, Kir Mama and Kif Baba, as they fight for gender equality in Morocco.

MENA - Feature Experimental/Essay – Development

  • B.A.H.R Alphabet (Lebanon, Qatar) by Sabine El Chamaa, a film about time, plastic floating underwater, tiny sparkling jellyfish, legends, and interrupted rituals.

MENA - Feature Experimental/Essay – Production

  • A Lover’s Manifesto (Lebanon, Qatar) by Alfred Tarasi, documents the history of Beirut, spanning from its inception as a modern city in 1860 to its invasion by the Israeli army in 1982.

NON-MENA - Feature Narrative – Post-Production

  • Sleepless City (Spain, France, Qatar) by Guillermo Garcia Lopez, set in La Cañada Real, on the outskirts of Madrid, one of the largest illegal shanty towns in Europe.
  • The Reserve (Mexico, Qatar) by Pablo Pérez Lombardini, about Julia, a ranger in charge of protecting a natural reserve, living with her mother and daughter in a small village.

NON-MENA - Feature Documentary - Post-Production

  • Fatna, a Woman Named Rachid (France, Morocco, Belgium, Qatar) by Hélène Harder, documents the National Archives of Morocco, where thousands of files await inventory, including victims of political violence.
  • Once Upon a Time in Shiraz (Iran, France, Norway, South Korea, Qatar) by Hamed Zolfaghari, which follows Valioallah and Dorna, nearing the end of their nomadic lifestyle.
  • The Last Shore (Belgium, France, Qatar) by Jean-François Ravagnan, documents the events following the viral video of a young Gambian man’s drowning in Venice’s Grand Canal by exploring the human story behind the tragedy through the voices of those who knew 22-year-old Pateh Sabally.

NON-MENA - Feature Experimental/Essay – Post-Production

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