Doha - The Doha Film Institute (DFI) has set a first in the Arab region for a film organisation, with its latest co-financed projects, ‘About Dry Grasses’ by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jessica Hausner’s ‘Club Zero’ selected to the Official Selection, In Competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, which takes place from May 16 to 27.

Additionally, ‘Banel E Adama’, the debut feature by Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye SY, recipient of the Spring 2023 grants, has been selected to In Competition, marking the first ever DFI grantee project selected to the prestigious section.

This nomination makes DFI the only cultural organisation in the MENA region to have eight supported projects including seven co-financed titles selected for the Official Selection, In Competition to date.

Diverse projects supported by DFI through its Grants programme will screen to global audiences in key sections of the prestigious Festival including three in Official Selection, Un Certain Regard; one in Official Selection, Midnight Screening; four projects in the parallel section of Critics’ Week (Semaine de la Critique), one in Director’s Fortnight (Quinzaine des cinéastes), and one in ACID.

Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Chief Executive Officer of DFI, said: “The diversity of DFI-supported films at Cannes this year is a strong testament to the high quality of projects nurtured through the Institute’s funding and mentoring initiatives. We are honoured and proud to be supporting auteurs and previous Qumra Master’s on their prestigious new projects as well as the journey of emerging filmmakers from across the world to achieve creative excellence.”

Co-financed by DFI, ‘About Dry Grasses’by acclaimed Turkish director, screenwriter and photographer Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Austrian director and screenwriter Jessica Hausner’s ‘Club Zero’ will premiere in competition along with grantee ‘Banel E Adama’ by Ramata-Toulaye SY competing with 18 other global entries.

Official Selection, In Competition:

Co-financed by DFI, About Dry Grasses (Turkey, France, Qatar/2023) by Qumra Master Nuri Bilge Ceylan, follows Samet, a young teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. When some events happen to him that he finds difficult to make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. But his meeting with Nuray, herself a teacher, may help him overcome his angst.

Club Zero (Austria, UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Qatar/2023) by Qumra Master Jessica Hausner, narrates the story of Miss Novak, who joins the staff of an international boarding school to teach a conscious eating class. She instructs that eating less is healthy. The other teachers are slow to notice what is happening and by the time the distracted parents begin to realise, Club Zero has become a reality.

Banel E Adama (Senegal, France, Mali, Qatar/2023) by Ramata-Toulaye SY is set in a remote village of Northern Senegal and follows the lives of Banel and Adama who long for a home of their own. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues.

Un Certain RegardcTracking:> The Mother of All Lies (Morocco, France, Qatar/2023) by Asmae El Moudir; If Only I Could Hibernate (Mongolia, France, Switzerland, Qatar / 2023), by Zoljargal Purevdash; Hounds (Morocco, France, Belgium, Qatar/2023) by Kamal Lazraq.

Midnight ScreeningscTracking:> One of only three films selected to the Midnight Screenings segment of Official Selection is Omar La Fraise (Algeria, France, Qatar/2023), by Elia Belkeddar.

Critics’ WeekcTracking:> InshAllah Wallad (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, France, Qatar/2023), by Amjad Al Rasheed; Tiger Stripes (Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia, Qatar/2023) by Amanda Nell Eu; I Promise You Paradise (Egypt, France, Qatar/2023) by Morad Mostafa; Lost Country (Serbia, France, Croatia, Luxembourg, Qatar/2023) by Vladimir Perisic.

Director’s FortnightcTracking:> Deserts (Morocco, France, Germany, Belgium, Qatar/2023) by Faouzi Bensaïdi.Latest co-financed projects by DFI Qumra Masters

Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jessica Hausner selected to the festival’s prestigious Official Selection, In Competition

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