The DFI’s ‘Atlas of Cinematic Affinities: 15 Years of Doha Film Institute’ is a landmark publication and the first-of-its-kind documentation of collective cinematic journeys of independent filmmakers from the MENA region and beyond.
Every year, in Cannes, the Doha Film Institute reception is an affair to be remembered. From the previous editions on the rooftop of a hotel within five minutes of the Palais, to their latest venue since 2025, at the Carlton Beach Club, a who’s who of Arab and world cinema meet thanks to the kind hospitality of the esteemed Gulf organization. That it has only been fifteen years since the inception of the Doha Film Institute seems wrong, since their work has upended the way we watch cinema, independent cinema but also of course, Arab films. But a country like Qatar is young, in its contemporary format, and if we compare what they have achieved in their youth to what other countries around the world have done as full fledged adult homelands, well… Doha comes up on top. Not even a US/Israeli war on their neighbors Iran could stop them during their annual springtime Qumra industry event. They simply took the whole initiative online and created more opportunities for all the filmmakers participating.
At the Carlton Beach Club this year, there was a beautiful coffee table book sitting at the entrance of the reception, just awaiting to be leafed through. And for those who did open the book, titled Atlas of Cinematic Affinities: 15 Years of Doha Film Institute instead of chatting with the fellow attendees, a magical experience awaited. Pages and pages, 400 to be exact, of essays and visual clues from some of the most celebrated filmmakers of our time. From Palestinian maestro Elia Suleiman to extraordinary Syrian helmer Soudade Kaadan, from Moroccan award winning filmmaker Asmae el Moudir to Palestinian artist, writer and director Kamal Aljafari, and including many Qatari filmmakers like the soulful and multitalented Majid Al-Remaihi, all these groundbreaking artists are featured in the book. Plus, there are essays by many personalities including acclaimed scholar Viola Shafik who offers critical academic insight, as well as a series of speculative reflections on the future of Arab cinema by Fahad Al-Kuwari, Amal Saadallah, Ahmed Al-Ayyad, Kais Zaied, Alia Ayman, Mary Jirmanus Saba, Samia Labidi, and Emna Lakhoua, who bring imaginative and forward-looking perspectives. All introduced by Qatar’s champion for arts and culture Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Chairperson of Qatar Museums and Doha Film Institute.
Together, these voices anchor the book in both critical rigour and creative possibility, creating a written yet cinematic journey through its pages.
“As we look to the future, this publication will stand as a crucial document that reflects how our cinematic voices have evolved, how they are connected, and how they will continue to inspire the storytellers of tomorrow.”
My own special tour through the book was courtesy of filmmaker Shaima Al Tamimi, who is part of the Project Management for the book.
“Atlas of Cinematic Affinities is more than a book, it is a living record of a generation of storytellers and the journeys that have shaped them,” said Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi, CEO of DFI. “It captures the creative process in its most honest and unfiltered form, preserving not just the films themselves, but the ideas, influences, and emotions behind them. As we look to the future, this publication will stand as a crucial document that reflects how our cinematic voices have evolved, how they are connected, and how they will continue to inspire the storytellers of tomorrow.”
At its heart, the book is an invitation into the intimate, often unseen space of the filmmaking process and offers a generous window into how stories are imagined, shaped, and brought to life. Featured filmmakers were invited to share materials from their creative journeys, including notebook sketches, mood boards, family archives, and the music that accompanied them through production.
One of my favorites was Elia Suleiman’s self portrait photo capturing the filmmaker in midair. On the page preceding it, an abstract explanation of the creative process of the wondrous Palestinian helmer (and interpreter of his own stories). “Sit in your favourite armchair. Better in an arm chair,” he writes, “Stare at nothing for as long as it takes. Until your vision is out of focus.” Suleiman then ends the text with “Take a walk, cook. Return to the room where you will hang your note. If you have doubt it means you are in a good place. There is plenty of benefit to the doubt. That is what I say to myself.” The book is full of this kind of wisdom and anyone who wishes to make films, but also travel to and interact with the Region, and its wide Diaspora should own a copy and study it well.
The response to the editors call for submissions for the book was extraordinary. More than 8,000 pages of submissions from filmmakers connected to DFI-supported projects across over 80 countries. The result is both a curated archive and a design object—one that reflects a remarkable diversity of voices, themes, and cinematic approaches, while carrying the emotional depth of the stories behind them.
The title itself speaks to the book’s essence. An “atlas” maps relationships and distances, while “cinematic affinities” reveal the invisible threads—shared influences, recurring gestures, and creative echoes—that connect filmmakers across languages, borders, and generations. This publication makes those connections visible, tracing a constellation of storytelling that transcends geography.
Developed during a period of profound regional and global transformation, the book reflects a generation of filmmakers shaped by complex histories and lived realities. Emerging alongside Qatar’s broader national investment in culture, education, and innovation, DFI has supported voices navigating themes of identity, memory, resistance, and possibility—continuing a legacy of cinema deeply engaged with both personal and collective narratives.
Editor Zaina Bseiso said, “The concept for Atlas of Cinematic Affinities emerged from a desire to foreground the moments often overlooked in a filmmaker’s journey. We celebrate finished films, but rarely do we make space for the questions, inspirations, trials and tribulations, and extensive research that lead to the final image we see, in this case, on the page. The book was conceived as a journey to be experienced, one in which emotional resonance prevailed. Its structure is associative and relational. A gaze, movement, color, or shape may build upon or contrast against another to form an idea or evoke a feeling; woven together, they create a collective cinematic moment. This is where the notion of affinity emerged: between filmmakers, those who inspired them, and the communities that supported them.
Art Director Nathalie Elmir added, “The design of the book began with a central question: how can moving image be translated into paper, and how can motion be created while carrying the intimacy of a moment? We approached the page as a cinematic surface, where images could be layered, repeated, reframed, interrupted, and paused. Through varied paper textures and weights, shifting page sizes, bilingual rhythm, associative sequencing, and a changing color palette, the book moves through fragments as one might move through memory, time, and space. Each design decision was guided by the desire to create a tactile experience, one that captures the momentum of cinematic affinities: intimate, archival, and constantly in motion.”
Two defining design innovations shape the publication: its fully bilingual Arabic-English format, where language itself becomes a visual and structural element; and a format that echoes the rhythm of the moving image, giving the book a distinctly cinematic quality that extends beyond the page.
With its scale, depth, and vision, Atlas of Cinematic Affinities stands as a defining milestone in DFI’s 15-year journey—mapping a global community of filmmakers and reaffirming the Institute’s role in championing bold, resonant storytelling.
Atlas of Cinematic Affinities: 15 Years of Doha Film Institute is available for purchase on the Kaph Books website. You’ll also be able to scroll through the book there.
All images courtesy of Doha Film Institute, used with permission.