Majid Al-Remaihi

Happy to share a teaser of Perishable Idol ahead of @cphdox premiere on 26th of March. With the support of partners @fikar.failaka @dohafilm Featuring Hassan Al-Failakawy Directed by Majid Al Remaihi Director of photography @arnaudalberola Camera Assistant @cherifyanis Sound recordist M’Hand Abadou Djezairi Editing by @gabe_zalez Sound editing by Benjamin Poilane Sound mixing by Yannick Delmaire Featuring music by Fatima Al Qadiri Translation and credits @oxygenpeel Distribution @squareeyesfilm_ Produced by @lefresnoy   Cinema and visual arts coordinator François Bonenfant  Artistic support Verena Paravel Production Manager @elo_wattiaux Administrator Stéphanie Robin Technical Director Pascal Buteaux Filming technique department: Aurélie Brouet, Solène Secq, Théo Coeugniet Sound department: Blandine Tourneux, Antoine Sugita Post-production department:  Alexandre Peschmann, Thibaut William

proud to announce that my new short film Perishable Idol will be having its world premiere at @cphdox I came across the island of Failaka as an outsider and remain so, and in as much as this project happened so swiftly, it was an outcome of long debilitating visions of ruins from and of the Gulf. Grateful in numerous ways to Hassan Al Failakawy @ibn_al_shumaydakh who helped me understand the weight of what remains invisible, buried, or forgotten in Failaka. We couldn’t have done this film without the essential support of partners @fikar.failaka @dohafilm Director of photography @arnaudalberola Camera Assistant @cherifyanis Sound recordist M’Hand Abadou Djezairi Editing by @gabe_zalez Sound editing by Benjamin Poilane Sound mixing by Yannick Delmaire Featuring music by Fatima Al Qadiri Translation and credits @oxygenpeel Distribution @squareeyesfilm_ Produced by @lefresnoy   Cinema and visual arts coordinator François Bonenfant  Artistic support Verena Paravel Production Manager @elo_wattiaux Administrator Stéphanie Robin Technical Director Pascal Buteaux Filming technique department: Aurélie Brouet, Solène Secq, Théo Coeugniet Sound department: Blandine Tourneux, Antoine Sugita Post-production department:  Alexandre Peschmann, Thibaut William

@jaber.aljehani made the most beautiful and intricate poster for And Then They Burn the Sea 🌊🤍 Which will have its world premiere at @filmfestlocarno on the 12th of August @dohafilm @squareeyesfilm_

We’ve spent more than 20 months thinking about how Doha Film Festival @dohafilm needed to exist, not by comparisons or standards or competition, but on its own as a platform for films I and others felt needed a platform in the region. Amidst a year where I turned 30, became defunct across many functions, took this responsibility alongside making two other short films, with a team who also understood this same unfathomable task of programming international competitions (features and shorts) that was initially meant to fail against odds. @ablouchi @fatma_h_alremaihi Creating a new platform for cinema necessitates so much more than any film festival, as many exemplary ones already exist in the region, but one which was no longer tied to any stipulations needed to exist. I’m proud and grateful for any and all paths we’ve crossed because of it.

As @bukhara.biennial came to a close, I was elated and honored to be present for barely 30 hours to bid farewell to my donkey and Ju7a (Nasreddin) before his FIFA Arab Cup Mascot designation. Making the film and installation of “A Donkey Will” felt sequential to a year where I felt more donkey than juha and anything and eventually more trusting of its will than that of anything or anyone else. A Donkey is and remains more attuned than structures of power give him or it any credit for. The project we made under less than a few months was so tediously and graciously possible thanks to so many that have given me grace, patience and help in making it, most notably @dhakadiana : Poem commissioned and featured by Hamza Kashgari @hamzakashgari Juha/Nasreddin by @nahaweer Zuxra Ganiyeva — Costume Designer Ravshanjon Rashidov — Assistant Costume Designer Vladislav Gaziyev — Camera Car Driver Valentin Minosyan — Lighting Technician MuhammadSodih Alimov Otabek Tilavoldiev — 2nd Camera Assistant Sergei Galin — 1st Camera Assistant Sardor Umarbekov — Focus Puller Elyor Amanov — Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) Dmitriy Timonin — Sound Recordist Zabixulla Shaxaldarov — Boom Operator Jamoliddin Ravshanov — Props & Art Fayyoz Buzrukxo’jayev — Line Producer Assistant @fayyozbuzruk MuhammadYusuf Shavkatov — Line Producer Rafael Gabdurakhmanov — Production Runner Ilxom Abdulatipov — Production Runner Rakhmatilla Akhmedov — Transport / Van Driver Production Leadership Muzaffar Yusupov — General Producer (Uzbekistan) Director of Photography Guillaume Delsert @g____ohm____e Assistant Director Gonçalo Lamas @oxygenpeel Editor Gonçalo Lamas @oxygenpeel Sound Editor Marcelo Tavares @paoyvinho

today is the opening of my installation film, Natural State, for the @lefresnoy I began this project trying to find ways of getting through to past optimisms, even after their demise, against some easy nihilistic impulse. In those pasts, the fog and mist kept the empires away from those that lived with it. eternally grateful to @mathilde.reynaud who patiently carried me through a form I was very new to. “Set in the waning days of the Dhofar War in 1972, NATURAL STATE follows an oryx as it escapes a looting convoy of the British Army. Through this allegorical flight, the oryx becomes a living metaphor for the collapse of a dream and the violence of imperial extraction.” Produced by @lefresnoy Supported by @dohafilm › Superviseur 3d, graphiste : Mathilde Reynaud @mathilde.reynaud › Voice acting: Gonçalo Lamas and Sebastien Warshaw › Animation : Jason Coombs, Sameh Saad, Thomas Milcamps › Music : Sega Bodega @segabodega › Sound Editing : Benjamin Poilane › Mixing : Yannick Delmaire thank yous to those that helped lead me to all the clues and pieces of this: @meriembennani @amer_albarzawi @sxphix_xl_mxrix Heiny Srour

Installation shots and stills of “A Donkey Will” my commissioned work at the @bukhara.biennial curated by @dhakadiana In collaboration with Iskandar Hakimov (on the donkey) and @nahaweer (on being Juha) and many many others who helped bring this together in such short time. “Majid Al-Remaihi reimagines the classic Khoja Nasreddin tale through the streets of Bukhara in 2025, subverting its comedic wisdom through puppetry, documentary vignettes, and absurdist performance to reflect on a world losing its irony and wit. Visitors first encounter a donkey puppet, made with puppeteer Iskander Hakimov, lying among scattered hay—setting the stage for a meditation on loss and searching. The video installation features two synchronised projections: one shows a phantom donkey’s point of view - empty markets and sandy paths unfolding like a nonverbal mono-logue; the other follows performer Anhar Salem as Nasreddin, wandering in search of her lost companion. These dual perspectives form a poetic dialogue on losing and being lost, turning an old parable into a meditation on displacement and belonging, shaped by a legacy of puppeteering. Salem’s Nasreddin meets confused shopkeepers, and ponders her companion’s fate. In the words of the artist: ‘Every time I’ve arrived at wit’s end, I brayed back to Nasreddin arriving on his donkey, as he does every year. This emblematic jester keeps the world on its scale. The unabashed familiarity of his legacy has become a dictionary of symbols, morals, and meanings.’

Ceremoniously late to posting…but I began this year not knowing I’d be anywhere near Bukhara or making another film until @dhakadiana asked for me to take part in @bukhara.biennial Which led to one of the most bizarre and generous coincidences of coming face to face with the statue of Juha جحا aka Nasreddin aka Effendi and trying to apprehend why everyone knows of the fool but no one remembers why. Bukhara is an ageless city and I’m really warmed by the way it’s opened itself to our Nasreddin.

perishable idol has been selected at two wonderful ideal places and I’m sad I’m unable to travel with it. Showing in: Tirana, Albania @tiranafilmfest Camden, US @camdeniff

in production ~ @lefresnoy Set in the waning days of the Dhofar War in 1972, NATURAL STATE follows an oryx as it escapes a looting convoy of the British Army. Through this allegorical flight, the oryx becomes a living metaphor for the collapse of a dream and the violence of imperial extraction. with all around 3D supervisor @mathilde.reynaud

[FOCUS ŒUVRE #Panorama26] "Perishable Idol" | Majid Al-Remaihi | Film | 2024 | Production Le Fresnoy - Studio national ✨ À découvrir dans l’#exposition Panorama 26, Toute ressemblance avec la réalité n'est pas une pure coïncidence, jusqu'au 5 janvier 2025 ! . Failaka, anciennement Ikaros, île antique au large de la côte du Koweït, rappelle un oracle des décennies après que la guerre du Golfe l’a laissée déserte. La nature garde les ruines de l’île, les animaux y errent dans l’attente d’être trouvés, des trous béent jusqu’à son ventre. Sur cette île se croisent les lignées passées et futures. Le film suit Hassan, un natif de Failaka qui en avait oublié l’existence jusqu’à ce que l’île, il y a quelques années de cela, le ramène à elle.

a bit late but finally managing to make a commemorative post for our Venice exhibition YOUR GHOSTS ARE MINE that concluded yesterday. cinema is best when it acknowledges what hauntings roil us in spite of and through the cultural cringe of international institutions and platforms. Was very happy we managed to supersede some questions of accessibility and exposure. much gratitude to the curator @matthieu_orlean whom I assisted and the @dohafilm teams who worked tirelessly on this retrospective of cinema from the global south. @fatma_h_alremaihi @stratigos.eu @mathafmodern @qatar_museums @c00kiesl0l @almayassabnthamad