Lyrics Revolt

The line-up for the ‘Made in Qatar’ programme has been unveiled with 19 films from 70 submissions, including three feature length pictures.

In its second edition, ‘Made in Qatar’ has grown into an official competition with a US$10,000 Qatar Film Development Award to be evaluated by an independent jury.

The programme will open with a red carpet screening of ‘Lyrics Revolt’ a documentary, by Shannon Farhoud, Ashlene Ramadan, Melanie Fridgant and Rana Khaled Al Khatib, that reveals the power of political hip hop in the midst of regional turmoil.. The screening will be followed by a hip hop concert at the Katara esplanade.

Among the three feature-length films in ‘Made in Qatar’: ‘Lockdown’, the first zombie thriller directed by Mohammed Al-Ibrahim and Ahmed Al Baker and ‘Angel in June’ by Jan Xavier Pacle, the story of a young, charitable girl based on real-life events and set in the Filipino community of Doha.

Angel in June

The four programmes of ‘Made in Qatar reflect a generation eager to express its hopes and pains through stories of forbidden love, friendship, introspective documentaries and meditation on life and beyond.

His Excellency Mr. Issa Bin Mohammed Al-Mohannadi, DTFF Vice Chair, said: “One of the founding mandates of Doha Film Institute and DTFF is to promote a culture of filmmaking in Qatar. ‘Made in Qatar’, the largest so far, demonstrates the success of the concerted efforts in creating a robust filmmaking industry locally by identifying and nurturing talent. The films in the selection will surprise viewers with their thematic intensity and narrative style. Most importantly, it offers glimpses of life in Qatar and will resonate with the local community.”

Chadi Zeneddine, Resident Filmmaker and Programmer at DFI, said, “The diversity in content and narrative styles demonstrates the strong evolution of local filmmaking over the past few years. Talented youngsters as well as experienced professionals are screening their films in the ‘Made in Qatar’ programme. The common thread in all these movies is the creativity of the filmmakers to push beyond the obvious and create heartfelt moments from ordinary situations”.

To see the complete ‘Made in Qatar’ line-up and read more about this announcement, view our full press release.