Qumra

Projects at various stages of production have been selected to benefit from bespoke mentorship and business meetings with international experts. The primary motive of this international gathering of creative film professionals is to contribute to the development of emerging voices in cinema, with a special focus on first- and second-time filmmakers.



Development / Feature Narrative
In Production / Feature Narrative
Picture Lock / Feature Narrative
Development / Feature Documentary or Essay
Work In Progress / Feature Documentary or Essay
In Production / Feature Documentary or Essay
Qumra Series
Development / Shorts
In Production / Shorts
Work In Progress / Shorts



Development / Feature Narrative


  • Eldorado, The Taste of the South

    Alaa Eddine Aljem


    A group of migrants are looking to reach Eldorado, a secret utopian island where everyone lives in peace. They eventually arrive in a tomato sauce factory of the same name.

  • To Leave or To Stay

    Azedine Kasri


    Dali, a suspended Franco-Algerian pilot, turns to cultivating his parents' olive fields in Algeria. Hindered by a large electrical pole and a dispute with Raïssa over land, they grapple with the decision to leave or stay, encapsulating the Algerian dilemma.

  • The Dream Betrayed Me

    Mohammad Alchikho


    A fake hero of a real war.

  • Al-Dana

    Nora Al-Subai


    Accused of bringing a curse on the village by the disappearance of the famous black pearl, Al-Dana sets out on an adventure to restore her home, find her missing father, and heal old wounds.

  • Trouble Magnet

    Ahmad Saleh


    Ali, a dramatic teenager, rides an imaginary donkey from Palestine to Germany, carrying to his best friend risky yet humorous tales of his journey, including the story of how he lost his tooth.



In Production / Feature Narrative


  • Aisha Can’t Fly Away

    Morad Mostafa


    The underworld of African migrant society in Cairo and the tension between the different groups, as witnessed by Aisha, a Somali caregiver.

  • Roqia

    Yanis Koussim


    In 1993, Ahmed, rendered amnesic by a car crash, fears his returning memory. Meanwhile, a disciple of an old Raqi (a Muslim exorcist) is worried that his master’s Alzheimer’s may unleash a long-contained evil.



Picture Lock / Feature Narrative


  • Across the Sea

    Said Hamich Benlarbi


    1990. Nour, 27, has immigrated illegally to Marseille. With his friends, he lives a marginal and festive life...

  • Aïcha

    Mehdi Barsaoui


    How far can we go to break free from our past?

  • Ma

    The Maw Naing


    A young Burmese woman, Mi-Thet, moves to the big city to work in a garment factory to support her family. She is forced to confront traumas in her past as the desperate city life collapses around her during a labour strike.

  • Perfumed with Mint

    Muhammed Hamdy


    Lurking through their city's remains, old friends reunite in a nightmare where mint sprouts out of their bodies. Relentlessly chased by ruthless shadows, will the companions escape the maze, or will they endlessly hide in empty streets filled with memories?

  • Celebration

    Bruno Anković


    We find Mijo hiding in the woods as a soldier of the defeated fascist army at the end of the Second World War. Through his life, we explore the circumstances that led to the expansion of extremism, both in the past and today.

  • Locust

    KEFF


    ‘Locust' is set in Taiwan, where a mute twenty-nothing struggles to find meaning in the injustice of everyday life.



Development / Feature Documentary or Essay


  • House No 7

    Rama Abdi


    After escaping their conservative societies, three girls meet and rent rooms in an old Damascene house. They manage to create a safe space isolated from everything. However, the girls soon begin to face many threats and protecting their fragile space becomes a challenge.

  • In the Shade of the Royal Palace (Dwellers of the Cabins)

    Hend Bakr


    My people and I used to live together in the centre of the city, but we were completely detached—as if we lived in a distant, isolated village.

  • My Mother & I

    Dilpak Majeed


    A woman in her seventies, deeply connected with her sheep, embarks on a journey through loss and change when her mother falls ill.

  • After Tahar

    Soufiane Adel


    At 40 years old, in a road movie, I'm drawing a portrait of my father and his fifteen brothers and sisters and my grandfather's Tahar, an Algerian rifleman in Indochina—our self-portrait as Algerian immigrants.



Work In Progress / Feature Documentary or Essay


  • Do You Love Me

    Lana Daher


    A personal journey through Beirut’s fractured historical, social, cultural, and political landscapes. Using archive footage, the film weaves together the past and the present to better understand Lebanon’s history and status today.

  • Hawa

    Najiba Noori and Rasul Noori


    Forty years after her arranged marriage as a child, Hawa is eager to finally begin an independent life and to be literate. However, with the return of the Taliban to power—her dreams and those of her daughter and granddaughter are shattered.

  • Naseem, Fight With Grace

    Ana Naomi De Sousa


    The “people’s history” of British-Yemeni featherweight boxer Naseem Hamed, who became a world champion in 1995. Derided by English commentators and journalists as arrogant and flashy—he was celebrated and lionised from Sheffield to Sanaa.

  • Son of the Streets

    Mohammed Almughanni


    Against all odds, a stateless Palestinian child in a Beirut refugee camp embarks on a courageous journey for recognition, education, and a brighter future in ‘Son of the Streets’.

  • The Myth of Mahmoud

    Mayar Hamdan and Shaima Al Tamimi


    Mayar captures the lives of her Palestinian family, who made Doha their home 60 years ago. Led by her mother, Amal, who is approaching retirement, they once again grapple with the dilemma of moving or fighting to remain.



In Production / Feature Documentary or Essay


  • Khartoum

    Rawia Alhaq, Anas Saeed, Timmea Ahmed, Ibrahim Ahmad (Snoopy)


    A street boy, a civil servant, a tea lady, and a medic—four lives weave together in peace and war in this creative documentary set in the city of Khartoum, Sudan.

  • Niemeyer 4 Ever

    Aurélia Makdessi


    The International Fair, created by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, is officially closed to the public. Nevertheless, in this urban, offbeat and human tale, Spark, Rana, Maher and Mona do everything to rehabilitate the imagined utopia.



Qumra Series


  • All About Adam

    Mehdi Hmili


    An exploration of the tumultuous life of Adam Mejri, also known as the “Tunisian Bernard Madoff”, who is the most reviled figure in the country due to his controversial actions.

  • Beautiful Things

    Basel Owies


    An over-achieving university student is forced into a life of crime to protect her family and advance her legitimate political aspirations.

  • Dyouf

    Saleh Saadi


    A family of five runs a guesthouse in their Bedouin village in Occupied Palestine while living in a turmoil of relations, identity, and career.

  • Hazawi

    Latifa Al Darwish and Abdulaziz Yousef


    An adventure animation series that takes place in the late 1980s, featuring a magical world full of Jinn creatures and two children.

  • The Blue Wedding

    Samia Dzaïr


    In France, an Algerian family celebrates the union of their eldest son with a young woman from their community. The next morning, he is found dead in their wedding bed.

  • Rabet

    Aya Al Blouchi and Basel Owies


    An anthology series of Middle Eastern crime stories that explore the complex ironies of human morality involving members of a tragically absurd society they can’t escape.

  • My Sister and I

    Lucy DerTavitian


    Two Saudi sisters use education to escape crushing poverty and patriarchy. Their imperfect family is a microcosm for a country grappling with the changes of a rapidly growing economy which propels modernity.



Development / Shorts


  • Becoming a Vampire

    Kummam Al-Maadeed and Abeer Al-Kubaisi


    Sara struggles with her draining corporate job and the social pressure from her mother. But when a vampire bites her—she finds an opportunity to reclaim her autonomy and embrace her freedom.

  • Before the Day Breaks

    Amal Al-Muftah


    Family, work, and financial pressures boil over when Nour, a young truck driver, encounters an obstacle while delivering an urgent, unusual shipment to Qatar.

  • Sundial

    Atheel Elmalik


    Against the backdrop of an intensifying war, a family struggles with an impossible decision about whether to stay or leave. Without access to electricity, Najma has to rely on the sun to find the right time to see Ziyad.

  • The Land Was Well Past its Zenith

    Rita Mahfouz


    What if cameras were fashioned outside the bounds of linear perspective? How would an altered photographic representation depict distressed spaces? This non-perspectival ‘documentation’ of Beirut depicts the forces that regulate the city following the recent events of 2019-20.



In Production / Shorts


  • Autumn

    Adnan Nassari and Aisha Al-Jaidah


    Autumn: a romantic tragedy of the captivity of ambitious thoughts under short roofs.

  • La Nuit a Peine

    Wiame Haddad


    In what appears to be a Palestinian refugee camp, we find ourselves somewhere between 1982 and the present day in a fictionalised documentary reconstruction depicting the eve of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon.



Work In Progress / Shorts


  • I Lay to Wait for You to Sleep

    Ali Al Hajri


    Following a serious car accident, a man embarks on a desert odyssey in search of his requiem.

  • I Wished for Solitude

    Hamad Alfayhani


    Bader, a young man, struggles with the news that he is losing his face.

  • Can You See Me?

    Dhoha Abdelsattar


    A lonely woman trapped in the cycle of a mundane life spirals into emotional turmoil until she is forced to confront herself.

  • Theatre of Dreams

    Fatma Al-Ghanim


    The captain of the first-ever Qatari Women’s Football Team grapples with the painful hidden costs that come with being part of the pioneering generation of women who broke through cultural taboos in pursuit of their footballing passion and dreams.


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