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Doha, Qatar; February 9, 2018: Following its overwhelming critical acclaim at major international film festivals including Cannes and Toronto, 2016 Qumra Master Naomi Kawase’s modern classic Radiance (Japan, France/2017), will be screened by the Doha Film Institute Cinema (DFI Cinema) as part of its ‘Contemporary Releases’ programme on February 15 & 16, 2018, at the Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium.

Bringing a selection of the latest internationally and regionally acclaimed films, DFI Cinema had recently launched the ‘Contemporary Releases’ programme with a screening of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope (Finland, Germany/2017) to strong audience response. In the coming months, the series will include recent festival favourites, as well as the emerging new voices of DFI-granted filmmakers.

Radiance has won rave reviews and clinched the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, with its heart-touching narrative of Misako, a struggling writer hired to create film audio descriptions for the visually impaired, and her association with Nakamori, an older photographer who is slowly losing his eyesight. He offers to help Misako with her scripts, and together they learn to see the subtly radiant world that is invisible to most eyes.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Chief Executive Officer of the Doha Film Institute, said: “Director Naomi Kawase, our 2016 Qumra Master, has once again proved her mettle with Radiance. It is a delight to watch her outpace her own accomplishments and tell powerful yet sensitive stories that have universal resonance. Filmmaking is an intensely spiritual and philosophical experience for her, as she had told the Qumra audience, and this is more than evident in Radiance. We are delighted to bring this contemporary classic to film lovers in Qatar, and enable them to appreciate some of the finest works in the world today.”

Born in Nara, Japan, Naomi Kawase became the youngest winner of the Camera d’Or in the history of the Cannes Film Festival for her first feature Suzaku in 1997. Since then, her films have won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Locarno Film Festival (Hotaru, 2000), the Grand Prix at Cannes (The Mourning Forest, 2007) and the Carrosse d’Or from the Directors’ Fortnight in 2009. ‘An’ opened the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2015.

Starring Masaya Nakamori and Misako Ozaki in the lead roles, Radiance will be screened on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7:00 PM and on Friday, Feb. 16 at 4:30 PM and 7:00 PM. Tickets are priced QR35; students and holders of the Culture Pass by Qatar Museums have discounted price of QR25. Tickets can be purchased at the DFI Ticket Outlet at MIA Auditorium or online 24×7 at www.dohafilminstitute.com.