Japanese creator and Cannes common Naomi Kawase will chair the principle competitors jury on the upcoming Doha Movie Pageant, which takes place from November 19 to 27 within the Qatari capital.
Kawase, Japan’s best-known director, maintains a detailed relationship with the Doha Movie Institute, having joined its Qumra mentoring program for rising filmmakers in 2016.
Kawase, who lives in his Japanese hometown of Nara, received the Caméra d’Or for greatest first characteristic movie at Cannes for “Moe no Suzaku” (1997), and likewise received awards there for “Mogari no Mori” (2007) and “Hikari” (2017). In 2000, his movie “Hotaru” received the FIPRESCI prize in Locarno. Her newest characteristic movie, “The Phantasm of Yakushima”, was introduced in competitors at Locarno in 2025. An skilled juror, she was a part of the jury for the 2013 Cannes competitors.
Becoming a member of Kawase on the Doha Movie Pageant jury will likely be rising French-Tunisian actor Adam Bessa (“Ghost Path”); pioneering Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha; award-winning Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi “Hearth at Sea”; and outstanding Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari (“With Hasan in Gaza”)
“We’re extraordinarily proud to welcome pals of the Institute who share our imaginative and prescient and have devoted their lives to selling impartial cinema,” stated Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of the Doha Movie Institute, in an announcement. “Their collective expertise and inventive integrity embody the spirit of DFI and DFF: championing authentic voices, creating area for daring concepts, and making certain highly effective tales discover their method to audiences around the globe.” »
The revamped Doha Movie Pageant has reworked DFI’s Ajyal Movie Pageant, devoted to youth and family-oriented cinema, right into a extra formidable worldwide occasion geared toward a wider viewers.
As beforehand introduced, Yemeni-Scottish filmmaker Sara Ishaq’s present affairs drama, “The Station,” which examines the impression of Yemen’s civil battle on the nation, would be the competitors opener for the second version of the revamped occasion.
The principle prizes awarded will likely be: greatest story, value $75,000; documentary, value $50,000; inventive achievement, value $45,000; and the non-sexist interpretation prize, value $15,000.
Along with the Doha Movie Institute, key companions of the Doha Movie Pageant embody Katara, Media Metropolis Qatar – Movie Committee and Go to Qatar.