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E. Nina Rothe

Film. Fashion. Life.
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The Diaries, because sometimes life needs more. 

DFI supporting the Palestinian pavilion in Cannes this year, with Fatma Hasan Alremaihi, center, Elia Suleiman, third from left and Hanaa Issa, third from right.

Doha Film Institute proves once again the cinematic force to be reckoned with in Cannes

E. Nina Rothe May 18, 2025

And with a new upcoming international film festival announced for November 2025, the Gulf cultural organization plans to prove to the world what many of us already knew.

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In Cinema, Interviews, Festival Tags Elia Suleiman, Doha Film Institute, DFI, Doha Film Festival, Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Hanaa Issa, Qatar, Media City Qatar, Katara
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A still from ‘Salted Skins’ by Nicolas Fattouh, courtesy of the DFI

The Cannes Diaries: Doha Dreaming with multiple DFI projects in the Cannes Official line up & Spring 2024 upcoming grants

E. Nina Rothe May 23, 2024

It’s all in a week’s work for the Doha Film Institute, the greatest cinematic organization in the MENA region.

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In Cinema, The Diaries, Festival Tags Doha Film Institute, Qatar, DFI, H.E. Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot, Rithy Panh, Cambodia, Qumra, Iréne Jacob, Grégoire Colin, Cyril Gueï, Cannes Film Festival, Critics' Week, The Brink of Dreams, Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir, KEFF, Locust, Taiwan, Morocco, Across the Sea, Saïd Hamich Benlarbi, Egypt, East of Noon, Hala Elkoussy, Mahdi Fleifel, To a Land Unknown, Erige Sehiri, Marie and Jolie, Joyce A. Nashawati, Sound of Silence, Venice Film Festival, Ameer Fakher Eldin, Yunan, Elia Suleiman, MENA region, Hanaa Issa, Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Al-Dana, Nora Al-Subai, Running With Beasts, Leila Basma, Lebanon, Syria, The Settlement, Mohamed Rashad, Nomadish, Yassine Marco Marroccu, Agora, Ala Eddine Slim, Żejtune, Malta, Alex Camilleri, The Botanist, china, Jing Yi, Another Birth, Tajikistan, Isabelle Kalandar, Horizon, Colombia, César Augusto Acevedo, Tale of the Land, Indonesia, Loeloe Hendra, The Fin, South Korea, Syeyoung Park, Flying Elephants, Mona Khaouli, Munir Khauli, Just Like a Dream, Corine Shawi, Beirut, Road Trip, Linda Qibaa, Speak Image, Speak, Palestine, Pary El-Qalqili, Flower of the Sands, Jaouad Babili, Climbing the Mountains, Algeria, Sabrina Chebbi, She Was Not Alone, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Hussein Al-Asadi, Those Who Watch Over, Karima Saidi, Ground Zero, collective shorts project, Moondove, Karim Kassem, Cutting Through Rocks, Iran, Sara Khaki and Mohammad Reza Eyni, Requiem for a Tribe, Marjan Khosravi, Badr on the Moon, Jordan, Aisha Al-Jaidah and Kholoud Al Ali, Film, TV Series, Web series, Last Words, Antoine Waked, Palmyra, Carol Mezher and Gabriela Flores, Rent-a-Mama, Dania Bdeir, New York, The Dry Kingdom, Dana J. Atrach, Echoes, Marie-Rose Osta, El'Sardines, Zoulikha Tahar, Before the Day Breaks, Amal Al-Muftah, If Only, Ali Al Anssari, Little Man, Hajri Gachouch, Salted Skins, Nicolas Fattouh, The Heaviness of Absence, Zizou, Jalal Maghout, Khaled Moeit, Maha Al-Thani, Eman, Please Pause, Lulwa Al-Thani, The Star, Ingrid El Zoghby, Another Day Shall Come, Aida Kaadan
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A still from ‘The Girl with the Needle’, courtesy of the Festival de Cannes

The Cannes Diaries: Magical interviews, chance meetings and beautiful films

E. Nina Rothe May 19, 2024

There is a trick to this festival. If you stand still long enough in Cannes — something a bit difficult to do on a weekend as crowds are bustling all around you — you’ll run into everyone who is anyone in the film universe.

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In Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags Alleno & Rivoire chocolate, festival de Cannes, Cannes Film Festival, The Cannes Diaries, RH Three, Golden Globes, The Girl with the Needle, Venice Film Festival, Croisette, KEFF, Locust, Taiwanese cinema, La Semaine de la Critique, Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis, Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Andrea Arnold, Bird, Barry Keoghan, Magnus van Horn, Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Un Certain Regard, Zambia, Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Everybody Loves Touda, Nabil Ayouch, Doha Film Institute, Five Seas Hotel, DFI, Sebastian Sepulveda, Qumra, Elia Suleiman, Nina Rodriguez, Ali Khechen, Hanaa Issa, Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi, Cannes Premiere, Thierry Fremaux, Salle Debussy, Jean-Luc Godard, Rithy Panh, Rendez-Vous avec Pol Pot, Meeting with Pol Pot, Irene Jacob, Grégoire Colin, Leos Carax, C'est pas moi, Oscars, Academy Awards, Baby Annette, Annette, Denis Lavant, Bad Blood, Modern Love, David Bowie, Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
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Fatma Hassan Alremaihi at Qumra 2024, courtesy of the DFI

The Qumra Diaries: I've landed in a place of inspiration

E. Nina Rothe March 1, 2024

It is always great to be in Doha for their annual industry meetings, yet this time it feels extra crucial and important — as cinema is what I turn to in order to heal and help understand the world around me.

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In The Diaries, Cinema Tags Toni Colette, Qumra, Doha Film Institute, Elia Suleiman, Museum of Islamic Art, Msheireb, Qatar, Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Hanaa Issa, Oliver Jeffers, Begin Again, The Heart of It, Palestine, Israel
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A still from ‘The land was well past its zenith’ by Rita Mahfouz

"We have to set our minds on how to create pockets of hope": Elia Suleiman on holding DFI's Qumra in these challenging times

E. Nina Rothe February 17, 2024

Plus actress and producer Toni Colette, is confirmed as the sixth 2024 Master for the upcoming tenth anniversary edition of the industry incubator and the participating projects are announced.

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In Cinema, Interviews, The Diaries Tags DFI, Doha Film Institute, Qumra, Elia Suleiman, Hanaa Issa, Alaa Eddine Aljem, Eldorado, The Taste of the South, To Leave or To Stay, Azedine Kasri, Mohammad Alchikho, Nora Al-Subai, Ahmad Saleh, Aisha Can’t Fly Away, Morad Mostafa, Roqia, Yanis Koussim, Across the Sea, Said Hamich Benlarbi, Aïcha, Mehdi Barsaoui, Ma, The Maw Naing, Perfumed with Mint, Muhammed Hamdy, Celebration, Bruno Anković, Locust, KEFF, House No 7, Rama Abdi, Hend Bakr, Dilpak Mated, Soufiane Adel, Lana Daher, Najba Nouri and Rasul Nouri, Ana Naomi de Sousa, Naseem, Fight With Grace, Mohammed Almughanni, Mayar Hamdan and Shaima Al Tamimi, The Myth of Mahmoud, Rawia Alhaq, Anas Saeed, Timmea Ahmed, Ibrahim Ahmad (Snoopy), Aurélia Makdessi, Niemeyer 4 Ever, Mehdi Hmili
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A still from Hamida Issa’s ‘Places of the Soul’

A still from Hamida Issa’s ‘Places of the Soul’

The Qumra Diaries: Souq Waqif, "from desert to desert", Alice Rohrwacher and Kiyoshi Kurosawa

E. Nina Rothe March 22, 2019

On my last day in Doha, I spend the afternoon wandering around the Souq Waqif which I learned from a local filmmaker, literally translates as “the stand up souk.” In the olden days, before Qatar turned into the international, cosmopolitan country it is today, the sea would come straight into the alleys of the souk so the merchants had to stand up and pick up their wares during the tides. Thus the name, and actually while I wandered around checking out the shops, having a shawl sewn from a traditional flower fabric by a local tailor while drinking a karak chai (cardamon infused milky tea) and eating a chapatti flat bread filled with zaatar, I felt like I was transported back to those early days of the pearl divers and their haunting songs of the sea.

Doha is special place. I’ll never get tired of saying it. And their annual Qumra event, organized by the Doha Film Institute is sheer cinematic magic. Qumra is a meeting place, a five-days long networking session, a place to pitch, secure financing and ensure a screening chance for film projects. But it is also an occasion to recharge our collective passion for the movies. For journalists, producers and of course filmmakers, the atmosphere at Qumra offers an almost electric energy, a jolt of renewed hope in the future of the 7th art.

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In Cinema, Interviews, The Diaries Tags Alice Rohrwacher, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Qumra, Qumra 19, Souq Waqif, Doha, Qatar, Museum of Islamic Art, Qumra working breakfast, Getty Images, Netflix, Japanese cinema, Italian cinema, masterclasses, Agnes Varda, Eugenio Caballero, Pawel Pawlikowski, Elia Suleiman, Hamida Issa, Places of the Soul, Antartica, Arabian desert, Gulf cinema, Saudi Arabia, H.E. Sheikha Mayassa Al-Thani, Fatma Al Remaihi, Hanaa Issa, DFI, Doha Film Institute, Cannes
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Hanaa Issa with filmmaker Elia Suleiman at a DFI event

Hanaa Issa with filmmaker Elia Suleiman at a DFI event

"This is the environment where films flourish": Talking Qumra 2019 with Hanaa Issa in Berlin

E. Nina Rothe February 11, 2019

Ever since its creation in 2010 on the peninsular country of Qatar, the Doha Film Institute has been revolutionizing cinema in the Region. The word “revolution” is never a sign of good things in the Arab world and yet at DFI, they should welcome the term when it comes to describing the work they’ve been doing almost singlehandedly to create and foster a healthy cinema culture in the Arab world. And beyond.

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In Cinema, Interviews, The Diaries Tags Qumra, Doha Film Institute, Hanaa Issa, Doha, Qatar, Arab cinema, Gulf cinema, Eugenio Caballero, Cannes Film Festival, Alice Rohrwacher, Agnes Varda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War, Lazzaro Felice, Roma, Berlin, The Ritz Carlton, Hamida Issa, Places of the Soul, Antartica, Sheikha Mayassa, Fatma Al Remaihi, Nadine Labaki, Capernaum, Oscars, Academy Awards, Rithy Panh, Too Late to Die Young, The Load, Inida, Indian Rose
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The Poster for Nadine Labaki's 'Capharnaum' - Photo by Fares Sokhn

The Poster for Nadine Labaki's 'Capharnaum' - Photo by Fares Sokhn

The Cannes Diaries 2018: The Doha Film Institute continues to "grab at the stars"

E. Nina Rothe May 11, 2018

Best selling author R.A. Salvatore once wrote "It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them." In all they do, and how they unrelentingly and tirelessly support filmmakers, the Doha Film Institute folks prove time and time again that they are grabbing at the stars, not sitting by, flustered.

After having been to Qumra this past spring, I can't imagine the Arab cinema landscape without the presence of DFI. In fact, even after the Dubai International Film Festival called off its 2018 edition, because of DFI's mission I remain hopeful for the future of cinema in and from the Region, and I know I'm not the only one to feel that way.

This year, in fact, in Cannes there are six DFI-supported films. In the main Competition, there are Nadine Labaki's 'Capharnaüm' -- check out my interview with the filmmaker in The National newspaper -- and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 'The Wild Pear Tree'; ''Sofia' by Meryem Benm’Barek and 'Long Day’s Journey Into Night' by Gan Bi are screening in Un Certain Regard; and in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar audiences will find both 'Weldi' by Mohamed Ben Attia and 'The Load' by Ognjen Glavonić. So, if you thought that DFI was only about cinema from MENA think again!

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In Interviews, Cinema, Festival, The Diaries Tags Doha Film Institute, Hanaa Issa, Khalil Benkirane, Fatma Al Remaihi, DFI, Qumra, Festival de Cannes, Cannes Film Festival
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Elia Suleiman, photo courtesy of the Doha Film Institute

Elia Suleiman, photo courtesy of the Doha Film Institute

"If a director can come away from the event enchanted and inspired": Elia Suleiman and Hanaa Issa talk Qumra 2018

E. Nina Rothe March 9, 2018

They say if you want to learn about something, go to the source. 

For filmmakers in the Middle East, but also around the world, Elia Suleiman has long been the Oracle, the man with a knowledge to create momentous cinema, cinema that can change the world. Suleiman is the most brilliant source today of modern Arab cinema, the kind that breaks across borders and tears down the divide -- as his frequent trips to international film festivals and award ceremonies have proved. 

So I thought, if it works for filmmakers, it could work for me. I shall ask Suleiman about Qumra myself, so I can unravel the mystery of this yearly event held in Qatar, under the auspices of the Doha Film Institute. I mean, the DFI has been very open and forthcoming about their week-long-mentorship-slash-industry-meet-and-greet-slash-film-connection event, but I still hadn't found a fascinating enough explanation of it in the media. One that would hold my attention and really explain the ins and out of Qumra.

Until I met Suleiman, DFI's Artistic Advisor and Hanaa Issa, Deputy Director of Qumra and Director of Strategy and Development at Doha Film Institute during Berlinale. One Sunday morning in Berlin, a leisurely breakfast talk later and now eagerly anticipating the start of Qumra in Doha, I finally understand.

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In The Diaries, Cinema, Interviews Tags Qumra, Doha Film Institute, Doha, Qatar, Elia Suleiman, Hanaa Issa, Berlinale, Berlin, filmmaking, arab cinema, Middle East, DFI, masterclass, film, cinema
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Tilda Swinton photographed by Brigitte Lacombe

Tilda Swinton photographed by Brigitte Lacombe

Iconic Masters and golden projects featured at this year's Qumra in Doha

E. Nina Rothe March 5, 2018

Qatar is the couture state of the Arab world. They watched and learned from the mistakes of all the other Gulf countries that were declared as states before them, and then Qatar set about to reinvent how we view culture, fashion, art and film. You can't watch an award ceremony these days without the presence for the Doha Film Institute in the credits of at least one of the films nominated, the Museum Authority of the peninsular state has assembled and created, and is set to unveil more beauty than my eyes can hold -- just a visit to the Islamic Art Museum will confirm my words -- and of course, the Emir's family owns some of the fashion world's most beloved brands. 

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In Cinema, The Diaries Tags Qatar, Doha, Doha Film Institute, Okja, Masters, filmmakers, Brigitte Lacombe, Tilda Swinton, Gulf countries, Arab world, Islamic Art Museum, Qumra, Gianfranco Rosi, E. Nina Rothe, feature narrative, documentaries, Berlinale, Golden Bear, Fuocoammare, Fire at Sea, Oscars, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai, Thailand, Cannes Film Festival, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Palme d'Or, Leviathan, Loveless, Russia, Golden Globes, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Sandy Powell OBE, The Young Victoria, Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, Bennett Miller, Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Truman Capote, Elia Suleiman, Hanaa Issa, DFI
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