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MIA Exhibition Series

MIA Exhibition Series

Drawing inspiration from the Museum of Islamic Art’s special exhibition ‘Fashioning an Empire: Textiles from Safavid Iran’, the Doha Film Institute is proud to present a curated series of Iranian films. This selection intricately explores the social and cultural fabrics that weave together the rich tapestry of Iranian life. Through the lens of cinema, we delve into the vibrant and complex narratives that define and reflect Iran’s unique cultural identity and heritage. Join us on this cinematic journey from 25–27 January at the MIA.

Upcoming Screenings:

Woven Narratives: An Iranian Cinema Series

• Thursday, 25 January 2024, 7 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Monir: Reflections and Refractions on Islamic Art (2015)

Directed by Bahman Kiarostami

The life and work of Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, who first garnered attention in the 1970s when she pioneered…Read More

Preceded by

Isfahan (1976)

Directed by Hossein Torabi

City of Isfahan, the ancient Persian capital and its stunning architecture, arts and traditions are pictured in this documentary, while using the backdrop of Iran in the last years of Shah and drive to modernize the country. Words and narrations are by the late Iranian poet, Ahmad Shamloo.

• Friday, 26 January 2024. 7 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Gabbeh (1996)

Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf

A nomadic tribe in Southeast Iran, whose specialty is weaving “gabbeh” (Persian carpets) is dying out… On the banks of a river…Read More

Preceded by

Ghamsar Rosewater (1971)

Directed by Hossein Torabi

A documentary about the village of Ghamsar, the historic hub of making rose water in Iran, depicting the traditions of making their famed perfume.

• Saturday, 27 January 2024, 7 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Through the Olive Trees (1994)

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

In this metafictional masterpiece, Kiarostami contemplates cinema and its romantic fallacies. Grounded in Northern Iran’s…Read More

Preceded by

Mashhad (1970)

Directed by Hossein Torabi

A documentary about the holy city of Mashhad, highlighting the contrasts of faith and modernity under Shah in Iran’s early 1970’s. Narrated by late poet Ahmad Shamloo.

Past Screenings:

Set in Stone: Gems and Jewels from Royal Indian Courts

• Wednesday, 15 January 2020, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Thursday, 16 January 2020, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

The Chess Players

Directed by: Satyajit Ray

In 1856, two obsessive chess players fail to notice British rule extending into their Indian province…Read More

• Friday, 17 January 2020, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Saturday, 18 January 2020, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Umrao Jaan

Directed by: Muzaffar Ali

“Umrao Jaan” unveils the injustices faced by women and advocates their emancipation. Set in late 19th-century India, the film tells the story of Umrao Jaan…Read More

• Sunday, 19 January 2020, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Monday, 20 January 2020, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Mughal-E-Azam

Directed by: K. Asif

A 16th century prince falls in love with a court dancer and battles with his emperor father…Read More

Syria Matters

• Thursday, 25 April, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Friday, 26 April, 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Chaos

Directed by: Sara Fattahi

‘‘Chaos’ narrates the story of three women in three cities – three women who have given up on life. One lives in Damascus. She has stopped speaking to others entirely, seeking refuge in silence since the death of her son in the war. The other has left Damascus as a result of the war there, hiding herself in Sweden. The third ended up in Vienna and faces an unknown future…Read More

• Thursday, 14 February, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Friday, 15 February, 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Human Flow

Directed by: Ai Weiwei

Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. ‘Human Flow’, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact…Read More

• Thursday, 17 January, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Friday, 18 January, 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Screening is free of charge, but a ticket is required for admission.

Dreams of the City

Directed by: Mohamad Malas

When his father dies, Dib, his younger brother and their mother (Yasmine Khlat) move away from their hometown Quneitra to Damascus. The mother’s despotic father reluctantly takes them in and tries to force her to remarry…Read More

Imperial Threads

• Thursday, 14 September, 7:30 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Friday, 15 September, 7:30 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Gabbeh

Directed by: Mohsen Makhmalbaf

A nomadic tribe in Southeast Iran, whose specialty is weaving “gabbeh” (Persian carpets) is dying out… On the banks of a river, an old woman who is washing one of these carpets seems to be conversing with it… Read More

• Thursday, 12 October, 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium
• Friday, 13 October, 6:00 PM, and 7:00 PM, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

The Poot

Directed by: Elham Asadi

Carpet-weaving is one of the oldest trades in the Persian world but, as with so many traditions, the craft is under fire these days. Many of the carpets that end up on the European market are manufactured… Read More

Kings and Pawns

• March – May 2014, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

Long Live The Queen

By Esmé Lammers

Sara is an imaginative little girl who lives with her mother and grandfather. Though she is happy enough, she dreams of reuniting her mother with her seldom-seen father, a national chess champion. When one of her school chums introduces Sara to the world of chess, she begins to spin an elaborate tale involving the White Queen… Read More

Brooklyn Castle

By Katie Dellamaggiore

Imagine a school where the cool kids are the chess team. Welcome to I.S. 318.‘Brooklyn Castle’ is a documentary about I.S. 318 – an inner-city New York school where more than 65 percent of students come from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level that just happens to have the best junior-high-school chess team in the country… Read More

The Chess Players

By Satyajit Ray

In 1856, in Lucknow, the capital of the Muslim kingdom of Oudh, King Wajid Ali Shah prefers to devote himself to the pleasure of art rather than submit to the subterfuge of politics. Meanwhile, the English Company of India is strengthening its grip on the country… Read More

Bobby Fischer Against The World

By Liz Garbus

‘Bobby Fischer Against the World’ is a feature documentary that explores the tragic and at times bizarre life of the late chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer. The drama of Fischer’s career was undeniable, from his troubled childhood to his rock-star status as World Chess Champion… Read More

Hajj, Journey through Art

• October – January 2013, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

A Road to Mecca: The Journey of Muhammad Asad

By Georg Misch

In the early 1920s, Leopold Weiss travelled to the Middle East and Islam became his new spiritual home. Originally a Jew, he converted to Islam, changed his name to Muhammad Asad, and became one of the most important Muslims of the 20th century… Read More

Le Grand Voyage

By Ismaël Ferroukhi

A few weeks before his college entrance exams, Reda, a young man who lives in the south of France, finds himself forced to drive his father to Mecca… Read More

Journey to Meccah

By Bruce Neibaur

‘Journey to Mecca’ (2009) tells the story of Ibn Battuta (Chems Eddine Zinoun), a young scholar who leaves Tangier in 1325 on an epic and perilous journey, travelling alone from his home in Morocco to reach Mecca, some 4,800 kilometres to the East… Read More

Ferozkoh

• March – June 2013, Museum of Islamic Art Auditorium

SKATEISTAN – Four Wheels and A Board in Kabul (SKATEISTAN – Four Wheels and A Board in Kabul)

By Kai Sehr

‘Skateistan – Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul’ follows the founders of Afghanistan’s first skate school and their attempts to transform the community of war-torn Kabul… Read More

Buzkashi Boys (Pesaran-e-Buzkashi)

By Sam French

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Film, ‘Buzkashi Boys’ is set against the dramatic landscape of contemporary Afghanistan and the national sport of buzkashi… Read More

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