Submissions open for Doha Film Institute 2013 MENA grants

The Doha Film Institute (DFI) has opened submissions for its Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Grants 2013 Spring Session. The January 31 deadline to submit applications has been extended to February 4 for Gulf citizens. Qatari citizens who have a short fiction idea can also submit their projects to gulffilmdevelopment dohafilminstitute.com to be considered for funding, DFI said. With no restriction on story genre or overall budget, projects eligible for funding include fiction and documentary feature films, experimental and essay films and short films. Films are eligible for funding at all stages of production   from development, production, postproduction to prints and advertising. To reinforce and expand support to grantees, the institute is committed to providing industry networking and matchmaking opportunities to provide recipients access to industry expertise at whatever stage of production their project is, the DFI said. Applications can be made by directors, screenwriters and/or producers who are nationals or descendants of the MENA region. Applications are also welcome from non-MENA directors if the subject matter of the project is related to and/or shot in the MENA region and if a MENA producer and/or screenwriter is/are attached to the project. MENA grants support a diverse range of culturally authentic stories and to help new and more established filmmakers within the MENA region get their films made and their stories heard which in turn helps to build a dynamic film industry in Qatar and the Gulf region. Applicants from the following MENA region countries are eligible for grants: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Two recipients of MENA Grants in 2012 have had their films selected for the 42nd edition of the Rotterdam Film Festival (January 23-February 3 2013). The recipients are: Die Welt   Alex Pitstra, Netherlands (screening in Bright Future section) and Though I Know The River Is Dry   Omar Robert Hamilton, UK/Palestine (Nominated for a Tiger Award for Short Film, World Premiere screening). DFI provided funding for 27 new MENA projects in November 2012 as part of its Fall Grants session. Grants were awarded to films which contribute in fostering creative and innovative cinematic experience, showed original and compelling Arab language projects and can develop know-how in the Qatari local industry. The selected recipients reflected a wide range of nationalities with projects from more established filmmaking cultures including Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco as well as from Jordan, Syria and for the first time, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Since 2010, 117 film projects have received funds from the DFI MENA Grants many of which have been screened and won awards at local and international film festivals. DFI identifies, nurtures, and promotes talent that will enrich Qatar's cultural scene. For Complete information about the DFI MENA Grants is available at www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing