Kings and Queens of Qatar
Made in Qatar - Ajyal Youth Film Festival 2014
Shamir Allibhai / Short Documentary / Qatar / 2014 / 36 min / Colour / DCP / In English / Arabic subtitles / Qatar Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
Synopsis
Set during the 40th World Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul, where Qatar’s team of four men and five women play 11 games over the course of two weeks, ‘Kings and Queens of Qatar’ is an informative look inside the world of professional chess players. The doc focuses primarily on Qatar’s women’s team, the nation’s first generation of female players – five girls with very different approaches to the classic game. Their successes and failures demonstrate how chess is a wonderful life lesson.
About the Director
Shamir Allibhai was born in Canada and currently resides in Qatar. He is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and Harvard University. In 2014, Allibhai directed and produced two short documentary films about the game of chess. His previous documentary ‘An Islamic Conscience: the Aga Khan and the Ismailis’ (2007) was broadcast on Canadian television and was screened at numerous film festivals.
Credits
- Director
- Shamir Allibhai
- Screenwriter
- Shamir Allibhai
- Producer
- Shamir Allibhai
- Editor
- Robin DeRoubaix
- Music
- Maias Alyamani
- Cinematographer
- Moustapha Siblini, Amit Chowdhury, Omer Mohammad
- Sales Company
- Big Dreams Productions Ltd.
- Production Company
- Big Dreams Productions Ltd.
- Cast
- Mohamad Al Modiahki, Ghada Al-Khulaifi, Fatima Al-Khulaifi,Aisha Al-Khelaifi, Husain Aziz, Kholoud Al-Khelaifi