Qatar Film Days
The fourth online premiere of the Qatar Film Days project is a documentary by the Sudanese director Suhaib Gasmelbari, Talking about Trees. The film is about people who dream of making and showing movies. The video is available to watch for free from the 8th to the 22nd of February.
The film’s main characters are four elderly directors. In their youth, they represented Sudan at prestigious festivals, but after the military coup in 1989, the film industry in the country died due to economic collapse and religious prohibitions, forcing them to give up their profession. In the past, friends spent years in foreign film schools, but were forced to emigrate and return to their homeland. The contemporary state of affairs is a struggle with bureaucracy and censorship for the opportunity to show films by Chaplin and Tarantino. The cinema for them becomes a symbol of the lost freedom of society. This film about friendship, loss, hope, and the magic of cinema, has won many nominations and awards, including the prize for the best documentary film and the audience award for the Berlinale 2019.
In addition, an online discussion will appear on the site with the participation of Beat Film Festival co-founder Kirill Sorokin and film critic, deputy editor-in-chief of the Art of Cinema magazine Zara Abdullaeva. They will talk about true love of cinema, industry enthusiasts, and how cinemas are affecting society today.
Read more on the website.
