Abstract
While media has thrived in Qatar since the 1990s, attempts at creating a systematic film industry have only recently come into being with the establishment of Northwestern University in Qatar and the Doha Film Institute. This chapter highlights how the creation of a local Qatari film industry presents one facet of a larger strategic national agenda of representing Qatari national identity—one that is scripted, edited, packaged, and exhibited. Even as the film industry purports to commit to film what it means to be Qatari, the country’s extraordinary demographic makeup, 88 percent of which is foreign, will necessarily be reflected in the workforce of this industry as well as in the creative content of the films being produced. Even as they are in service of promoting Qatari culture, these cosmopolitan cinematic collaborations serve to create connections between the different communities and encourage a hybrid merging of disparate cultural knowledge. This chapter shows how the budding Qatari film industry answers to, complicates, or negates the overarching national vision.
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Mirgani, S. (2020). Making the Final Cut: Filmmaking and Complicating National Identity in Qatar and the GCC States. In: Ginsberg, T., Lippard, C. (eds) Cinema of the Arab World. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30081-4_2
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