a href="/myfiles/Images/2014/02/09/li01_big.jpg" title="A scene from the film "Beirut of the Balkans". — Courtesy photo" A scene from the film "Beirut of the Balkans". — Courtesy photo
BERLIN — The Doha Film Institute (DFI) announced on Saturday the recipients of its first global grants program at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. These include Benjamin Naishtat's debut feature film, ‘History of Fear', set to have its world premiere today as part of the Berlinale Official Competition line-up. Aimed at identifying new cinematic talent worldwide, with a focus on first-and second-time filmmakers, the fund received 396 applications for its first international cycle. The fund was previously open only to the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. Applications were evaluated by an independent jury in December 2013 and were considered across three regional categories. The MENA region accounted for the majority, 200 of the total applications, followed by the 29 countries in the so-called Development Assistance Committee (DAC) with 89 and 88 from the rest or the world. The DAC group of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development includes the European Union member countries. Of the 20 projects from 24 countries which will receive funding for development, production and post-production, nine come from MENA, underlining the emergence of cinematic talent in the region. The grantees also encompassed of eight from the DAC list of countries and three from the rest of the world. These include highly anticipated projects by emerging talents from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uruguay, alongside projects from MENA countries including Algeria, Iraqi Kurdistan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. In total, the grants will support 12 narrative films, including two shorts (one fiction and one experimental), seven feature documentaries and one experimental documentary. While the fund has been expanded to include global filmmakers, emphasis remains on supporting filmmakers from the MENA region. Certain categories of funding are reserved exclusively for MENA filmmakers and a specific set of criteria for eligibility, according to the nationality of the director has been implemented. Abdulaziz Al-Khater, Chief Executive Officer, Doha Film Institute, said: “The Doha Film Institute global grants were launched with a vision of fostering creative cultural exchange among MENA and international filmmakers. The strong response to the first submission cycle is a testament to the Institute's goal of supporting global storytelling and nurturing upcoming talent.” Commenting on the selection of “History of Fear” in Berlinale's Official Competition, Khalil Benkirane, the DFI Head of Grants said: “Benjamin Naishtat's ‘History of Fear' is an innovative project from an exciting new voice in world cinema. Our panel was deeply impressed with Naishtat's daring approach to his debut feature, which examines and reconstructs notions of fear, and creates a tense, quietly disturbing experience for the viewer. This powerful film from an emerging South American talent is a prime example of the type of cinema our global grants programme seeks to support.” DFI will open applications for the next grant session between April 1 and 21 , 2014. Interested filmmakers from the MENA region can apply for feature documentaries and narratives at development, production, and post-production stages. Short films can be submitted at production and post-production stages. Among the DFI-supported films are: Men in the Sun directed by Mahdi Fleifel (Palestine/United Kingdom/Greece/Denmark/Qatar); Burning Birds, directed by Sanjeewa Pushpakumara (Sri Lanka/France/Qatar): By The Time It Gets Dark directed by Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand/Qatar); House Without Roof directed by Soleen Yusef (Iraq/Germany/Qatar); The Wounded Angel directed by Emir Baigazin (Kazakhstan/Russia/Qatar) and Beirut Of The Balkans directed by Nicolas Khoury (Lebanon/Qatar). — SG
