An ‘Unprecedented’ Survey Spotlights Middle Eastern Filmmaking in Venice

An impressive showcase of contemporary filmmaking from the Middle East and North Africa has been brought to Venice by Qatar Museums. at Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti, which debuted in April during the vernissage week for the 60th Venice Biennale. The exhibition, which also underscores the significance of such an unprecedented survey of emerging and underrepresented talent, is also part of this year’s Venice Film Festival, which runs through September 7.

Scattered across 10 galleries within the palazzo that each respond to a theme like “deserts,” “borders,” “exile,” or “ruins,” the exhibition presents work by more than 40 artists hailing from countries across the region like Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Algeria as well as other parts of the Global South like Ethiopia and Lesotho. Among the highlights are works by Shirin Neshat, Sophia Al Maria, and Wael Shawky, who is also representing Egypt at the Venice Biennale.

Examples of the range of work on show include Ali Cherri’s (2022), which is a fictional narrative following Maher, a man who works in a brickyard on the banks of the Nile in Sudan. After hours, he sneaks into the desert to build a structure made of mud that becomes the site of strange, supernatural happenings. The film takes place in 2019, during the protests that would lead to president Omar al-Bashir’s deposition.

Filmed between 2011 and 2015, (2021) by Abdallah Al-Khatib is a diaristic exploration of daily life in Yarmouk, the Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus in Syria where the artist grew up. About 10 years ago, following the Syrian revolution, it was gradually deprived of basic needs like food, medicine, and electricity and cut off from the work because it was seen by the new Bashar Al-Assad regime to house potential rebels and resistance fighters. The work is a celebration of small joys against a backdrop of war and devastation.

“For nearly 15 years, the Institute has worked to correct the misrepresentation of Arab culture, stories, and aesthetics by nurturing important new voices in cinema,” said Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of Doha Film Institute (DFI), one of the main supporters of the event. Additional video works were also provided by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and the Art Mill Museum that will also open in Doha in 2030.

“By presenting this exhibition, Qatar Museums advances its key mission of encouraging understanding across borders through cultural exchange,” agreed Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, chairperson of both Qatar Museums and the DFI.

It was recently announced that Qatar Museums and the City of Venice have co-signed a historic Protocol of Cooperation, an agreement that strengthens diplomatic ties and is expected to lead to a number of investments and cultural collaborations. It has also been reported that Qatar may become the first country to secure a new pavilion in Venice’s coveted Giardini since South Korea in 1995.

Venice’s mayor Luigi Brugnaro noted how the city, once a crucial hub of trade between the East and the West, “continues to bring vitality and contemporary dynamism to its historic role as a meeting place for the cultures and peoples of the world.”