Doha Film Institute announces recipients of 2024 Fall Grants
DFI has selected 47 projects from 23 countries spanning narrative, documentary and experimental films as well as series.
Doha Film Institute (DFI) has revealed the recipients of its 2024 Fall Grants, continuing its support for both emerging and established filmmakers from the Arab world and beyond. This year's selection features a diverse range of projects across various stages of production.
The DFI Grants programme is designed to nurture first- and second-time filmmakers as well as acclaimed directors from around the world. Among the selected feature projects are Palestinian director Razan Madhoon's Gaza-set drama The Good Spirit , Moroccan-French filmmaker Sofia Alaoui's thriller Tarfaya and The Joyful 1926 by Algerian team Damien Ounouri and Adila Bendimerad. In total, 30 feature fiction and documentary films, 13 short films, three TV series and one web series have been chosen for support.
Tarfaya marks Alaoui's second feature following her Sundance-winning Animalia . The film explores a mysterious sleeping epidemic in a remote Moroccan town that challenges the dedication of a local doctor. It was developed through the Red Sea Film Festival's Red Sea Lodge and Les Arcs Film Festival's Coproduction Village.
Another notable project is In Memory of Times to Come , the debut feature of UK-based Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour. This Palestine-Denmark-Malta-UK-Qatar co-production is set 30 years after an ecological apocalypse and follows a couple living in a restored Bethlehem townhouse. Meanwhile, The Good Spirit , an expansion of Madhoon's short film of the same name, tells the story of a young woman in Gaza who takes in an injured stray dog against her family's wishes.
In the post-production category, DFI is supporting Ancestral Visions of the Future , a new work from Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, director of This Is Not A Burial, It's A Resurrection . This experimental essay film is described as an exploration of identity, childhood, death and exile through the perspectives of a puppeteer, a mother, a boy, a farmer and a city.
For the 2024 Fall Grants cycle, 47 projects from 23 countries spanning narrative, documentary and experimental genres have been selected, highlighting the Institute's dedication to fostering creativity and cinematic excellence. The grants aim to provide filmmakers with the necessary resources to bring their visions to life.
Additionally, 11 feature narrative and documentary projects from Qatari and Qatar-based talents have received support. The selected projects represent a diverse set of countries, including Algeria, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mexico, Morocco, Palestine, Spain and Tunisia. Notably, this year's recipients include 21 women filmmakers and 21 returning grantees.
Speaking about the recipients, Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of Doha Film Institute, said: 'Our grants programme is a cornerstone of our mission to support filmmakers in realising their artistic potential and telling stories that resonate with audiences worldwide. DFI Grants have enabled the script-to-screen journey of over 850 projects in cinema from across the world, that has contributed to the advancement of cinema and the empowerment of underrepresented voices.'
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