Pan-Arab distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Middle East and North African rights to award-winning religious sect documentary Q.
The film marks the feature directorial debut of Lebanese-US cinematographer and filmmaker Jude Chehab and premiered at last year’s Tribeca, where it won the Albert Maysles Award for best new documentary director.
The story follows Chehab’s mother Hiba, a devout Muslim academic who wears a white hijab, teaches the Quran, and was once a member of a secretive matriarchal Muslim order called Qubaysiyat led by the mysterious Anisa.
Using archival footage, old photographs, and talking head interviews, Chehab investigates the all-female religious group while exploring the strict, co-dependent demands on its members – and why her mother was expelled by the late Anisa.
Front Row closed the deal directly with the filmmaker and is planning a theatrical release for the film across MENA in Q2 2024.
Chehab said: “Given that the film was created by Arabs, for Arabs, the MENA release of Q holds a special significance for me.”
Following its Tribeca premiere, the film played Sheffield DocFest, where it won the international first feature competition grand jury award and New Orleans Film Festival, where it scooped the best documentary prize. It received its Middle East premiere at El Gouna.
Chehab will next produce Usayd Younis’ feature documentary Malcolm, which explores the life and death of Malcom X’s grandson and is in development, and is writing her first fiction feature.
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