Sundance Winners, Oscar Nominees & Emmy-Feted Directors Head To Doha Film Institute’s Qumra Event – Full List Of Feature & Series Projects

The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra talent and project incubator event returned as a 100% in-person event last week, bringing participants together face-to-face in Doha for the first time since it was forced online in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Michael Winterbottom has devoted much of his filmmaking career to revisiting real-life events through works blurring the boundaries between documentary and drama to various degrees.  

The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra talent and project incubator event returned as a 100% in-person event last week, bringing participants together face-to-face in Doha for the first time since it was forced online in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

UK director Lynne Ramsay enjoyed international recognition early on in her career after short films Small Deaths and Gasman were invited to the Cannes and won the Jury Prize in its short film competition in 1996 and 1998 respectively.

Jacqueline West is one of Hollywood’s most respected costume designers with four Oscar nominations for Philip Kaufmann’s Quills, David Fincher’s The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part One.

Oscar-winning UK producer David Parfitt shared insights from the highs and lows of his 35-year producing career at a masterclass for the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra talent incubator over the weekend.

Oscar-winning screenwriter, playwright and film director Christopher Hampton was on feisty form in a masterclass in Qatar earlier this week as part of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra talent incubator event (March 10-16).

Barclays has announced the closures of 14 of its bank branches across the UK - including one in Scotland.

Three months ago, Doha’s new Downtown Msheireb district was the throbbing heart of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as one of its main fan zones.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Donatella Versace knows how to bring out the stars. The glamorous guest list at her Versace fashion show on Wednesdsay night, staged on the roof of the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, included Miley Cyrus, Elton John, Cher and her boyfriend Alexander Edwards, Lil Nas X, Pamela Anderson, Dua Lipa, Danielle Deadwyler, Lily James, Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, Channing Tatum, Ariana DeBose, Matt Bomer, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Lucien Laviscount, Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, Russell Tovey, “Queer Eye” stars Antoni Porowski and Tan France, Paris Hilton, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Gottmik, Simone Ashley and Hunter Doohan.A post shared by Marc Malkin (@marcmalkin) The show was timed so that it ended just as the sun began to go down in Los Angeles, creating a dusty blue glow as the models — including Naomi Campbell, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner — took their last walk around the champagne-colored runway. Versace appeared briefly to wave to the starry crowd.

Wherever you looked at the Versace fashion show in Los Angeles, there must have been another major celebrity!

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Autlook Filmsales has sold “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” which won the directing award for Anna Hints in the World Cinema Documentary section at Sundance, to more than 20 territories in North America, Europe and Australia. Deals are confirmed with Neue Visionen in Germany, Trigon in Switzerland, Against Gravity in Poland, Fidalgo in Norway, Ost For Paradise in Denmark, Vedetta in Benelux, Filmtrade in Greece and Cyprus, FilmIn in Spain, Alambique in Portugal, Filmladen in Austria, Pasaka Films in Lithuania, Artcam in Czech Rep. and Slovak Rep., Best Film in Latvia, Mozinet in Hungary, and Madman in Australia and New Zealand. The rights in U.S. have been picked up by Greenwich Entertainment and in Canada by Sherry Media Group. The theatrical release in Estonia is by ACME Film.

High street giant Poundland has excited shoppers with plans to open giant new budget stores across the UK. Shoppers looking for bargains have become more reliant on stores like Poundland, Home Bargains and B&M through the cost of living crisis, and look to budget retailers for both big-name and own-brand products that won't break the bank.

The Oscar-nominated documentary “Fire of Love” is getting the narrative remake treatment. The acclaimed non-fiction movie, concerning the scientific research and on-the-job romance of French volcanologist filmmakers Katia and Maurice Krafft, will become a live-action narrative feature film.

High street giant B&M is to begin closing some of its stores across the UK over the next few weeks. The retailer, which competes with the likes of Home Bargains, Aldi's middle aisle and Wilko, is a staple for many shoppers looking to buy home essentials and more novelty purchases.

The competition winners of the 73rd Berlinale are about to start rolling in as the festival draws to a close Saturday evening.

Surprise! Karen Gillan got secretly married to her partner Nick Kocher last year!

EO, the Sideshow/Janus films release told from the point of view of a donkey, is set to pass the $1 million mark in week 14. The Cannes-premiering film by Jerzy Skolimowski, Academy Award nominated for Best International Feature, will gross an estimated $27.6k for the four-day President’s weekend on 37 screens for a cume of just over $1M.

Playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, producer David Parfitt, Dune costume designer Jacqueline West and directors Lynne Ramsay and Michael Winterbottom are to set attend the Qatari Doha Film Institute’s ninth talent incubator event Qumra in March.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Doha Film Institute has recruited an impressive mix of film directors and talents comprising Christopher Hampton, David Parfitt, Jacqueline West, Lynne Ramsay, and Michael Winterbottom who will hold master classes and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator. The event, which is back in person after a two-year hiatus, will run physically March 10-15 in the Qatari capital of Doha, followed by an online program March 19-21. Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market, and festival elements. The event, now at its ninth edition, was established by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.