Reflections on 15 years of Global South Cinema | Zaina Bseiso

Behind the scenes of "Atlas of Cinematic Affinities", filmmaker and curator Zaina Bseiso reveals the obsessive process of distilling 15 years of the Doha Film Institute (DFI) into a visual history that feels more like a sensory experience than a book. We dive into the "ships that keep on sailing" metaphor which guided the book's design, moving away from dry chronologies to explore how 8,000 pages of raw filmmaker artifacts, from 3:00AM script scribbles to personal family portraits, build a collective map of regional and global cinema. Bseiso breaks down the miracle of independent filmmaking in the region, the DFI’s grassroots impact on local film acumen, and why the most powerful cinematic histories are built on shared affinities rather than just data points. From the haptic choice of tracing paper to matching the gaze of characters across pages, this conversation explores what it truly means to capture the motion, silence, and perseverance of a medium that refuses to stand still.

 

00:00 Introduction: Celebrating 15 Years of Global Voices

01:40 Origins in Experimental Cinema

05:11 The Atlas of Cinematic Affinities

07:02 Motion as a Guiding Principle

10:44 Surprising Milestones and Grassroots Efforts

13:11 Sifting Through 8000 Pages of Process

19:10 Building Relationality and Collective Identity

21:25 Subverting Conventional Structure

24:58 An Encyclopedic Undertaking

27:03 Collaborative Art Direction

32:47 The Weight of Selection

35:14 Retrospection and Regional Realities

39:50 Essential Resources for Film Students

44:00 Measuring Intangible Impact

47:25 Influential Visions in Arab Cinema

51:49 A Growing Legacy for Future Filmmakers

 

Zaina Bseiso is a filmmaker, curator and educator, whose work explores diasporic narratives, cinematic storytelling, and questions of power in the moving image. She is a Senior Programmer at the Points North Institute, a Shorts Programmer at the Sundance Institute, and serves on the programming board of LA Filmforum. She has collaborated as a guest curator with institutions including the Flaherty Seminar and DOXA Documentary Film Festival, and co-founded Bahia Collective in 2019. Her first feature film, Todo Lo Sólido, is currently in post-production and has received support from Sundance, Sandbox Films, Visions Sud Est, and IDFA.

 

Connect with Zaina Bseiso 👉 https://instagram.com/zainabseiso

Hosted by:

Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

 

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