Brazilian director Walter Salles kicks off the 11th Doha Film Institute’s Qumra meeting this Friday, in one of his first international appearances since political drama I’m Still Here won the Best International Feature Film Academy Award on March 2.

Running from April 4 to 9 in Doha, and then online from April 12 to 14, annual talent and project incubator Qumra will host the directors and producers of 49 works supported by Qatar‘s Doha Film Institute (DFI) in various stages of development and production.

Salles is attending as a “Qumra Master” alongside Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left, Evolution of a Filipino Family), Iranian and French cinematographer Darius Khondji (Delicatessen, Amour), Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas (Roma, Spectre) and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To (Exiled, Election).

In this role, they will each give a masterclass on their careers and lessons learned for the emerging filmmakers in the room and also mentor a handful of the projects on a one-on-one basis. They follow in the wake of more than 50 cinema figures including Danis Tanović, Asghar Farhadi, Tilda Swinton and Paweł Pawlikowski to name but a few.

“Walter is among several Oscar-winning Masters we have had the honour of having mentor emerging voices at Qumra,” says DFI CEO Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi who heads Qumra, flanked by DFI Director of Strategy and Development Hanaa Issa, who is the event’s Deputy Director, and Palestinian director Elia Suleiman as Artistic Advisor.

Qumra is unfolding against politically volatile times in the Middle East and North Africa amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, for which Doha has been the setting of numerous ceasefire talks; the ousting of President Bashar Al-Assad in Syria: the fall of Hezbollah in Lebanon and pro-democracy demonstrations in Turkey.

As he rides high on the Oscar success of his moving drama about the true story of Eunice Paiva, whose left-wing activist husband Rubens Paiva disappeared in the early years of the 1964 to 1985 Brazilian military dictatorship, Salles is a fitting choice of Qumra Master this year, adds Al Remaihi.

“From Central Station to The Motorcycle Diaries and his latest feature, his dedication to and understanding of intimate personal journeys against the backdrop of social and political context is a truly special contribution to this year’s event. It is an extraordinary opportunity for Qumra delegates to learn from a Master who is renowned for exploring identity, displacement, and self-discovery,” she says.

Salles’ post-Oscar attendance is due to the fact that Qumra is taking place a month later than usual this year due to the timing of Ramadan, which ran throughout most of March culminating in the Eid Al Fitr festival holiday from March 29 to 30. This means the event, which usually takes place just after the Berlinale, is unfolding instead post the 2025 Academy Awards ceremony and on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival’s line-up announcement on April 10.

“The timing of Qumra early in the year definitely offers an advantage for filmmakers by enabling more development time before the major festivals, but we never position Qumra specifically in relation to a festival,” says Al Remaihi.

“Our purpose is to provide the right environment and support from our Masters and industry experts to help each project reach its full potential and achieve the international acclaim it deserves.”.

Al Remaihi suggests the current challenges in the Middle East and North Africa region make the DFI and Qumra’s work more pertinent than ever.

 “Through our grants, co-financing initiatives, year-round training programmes and networking opportunities, the strong support system we have built for emerging talent continues to empower authentic storytelling from the region, providing a platform to acknowledge the courage and resilience of those fighting against oppression.” she says.

“We remain dedicated to ensuring important voices continue to be heard and to creating opportunities for filmmakers to tell their stories with resilience and authenticity despite the difficulties they face.”

Timely new projects in this year’s selection include Palestinian director Razan Madhoon’s The Good Spirit, about a young Gaza woman whose move to adopt an injured stray dog sparks mixed reactions from family and friends; Algerian directorial duo Damien Ounouri and Adila Bendimerad’s The Joyful 1926, capturing Algeria under French colonial rule through the tale of a thwarted aspiring local actress, and Pary El-Qalqili’s documentary Speak Image, Speak challenging the portrayal of Palestinians in Germany, beginning with the imagery of the 1972 Munich Olympics September 5 hostage attack.

At the other end of the production line, Qumra will also showcase six films at the picture lock stage including Korean sci-fi drama The Fin, the second feature from Syeyoung Park after his award-winning debut Twilight, which is produced Philppe Bober.

Tunisian director Erige Sehiri will also show extracts of her drama Marie & Jolie, about three Ivorian women living in the Tunis. It is her second fiction feature after well-received debut Under The Fig Trees, which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and represented Tunisia at the 2023 Oscars.

Qumra will also screen a selection of DFI grantee features that have made waves on the festival circuit over the past year comprising: Mamadou Dia’s Demba (Senegal), Hala Elkoussy’s East of Noon, The Maw Naing’s MA – Cry of Silence (Myanmar), Karim Kassem’s Moondove (Lebanon) and Lofti Achour’s Red Sea Film Festival winner Red Path (Tunisia) and Nelson Makengo’s Rising Up At Night.

Beyond the Qumra Masters, the attendees will also have access to another 250 cinema industry experts from across the filmmaking chain from production to sales, distribution and festivals.

These include Project Mentors Suleiman, Rithy Panh, Annemarie Jacir, Ghassan Salhab, Kamal Aljafari, Tala Hadid and Talal Derki are acting as Project Mentors and another 20 Projects Consultants such as French producer Didar Domehri; Marrakech Atlas Workshops Director Hédi Zardi, Films Boutique Head of Acquisitions Gabor Greiner and Mubi exec Kevin Chan.

Production companies attending this year include Words And Pictures (Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story), Abbout Productions (In The Shadow of Beirut), Watermelon Pictures (The Encampments) and Pallas Film (All That’s Left of You).

Festivals checking out the selection include Cannes, CPH:DOX, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Marrakech, Rotterdam (IFFR), Sarajevo, Sheffield DocFest, Sundance, Tribeca and Venice, while a raft of sales and distribution companies are also in attendance including Autlook Filmsales, Heretic, Lucky Number, mk2 films, New Europe Film Sales, Picture Tree International and Pulsar Content.