From the sand desert of Qatar to the ice desert of Antarctica, young Qatari filmmaker Hamida Issa took on a challenging and life-changing journey leading to a personal epiphany, in ‘Places in the Soul’ — the first ever Qatari documentary feature to take part in the ongoing Doha Film Institute’s (DFI) Qumra industry event.
The first ever Qatari woman to reach Antarctica, Hamida documents her experiences and realisations in this work in progress. “My film is a documentary and a personal journey which began when I decided to go on an environmental and leadership expedition with a foundation called 2041 to Antarctica, the last continent that is untouched and no human history,” Hamida told reporters at the fifth Qumra.
The 2041 Foundation aims to promote Antarctica to be protected past 2041 when international treaties committing nations to the preservation of Antarctica come up for renegotiation. “It’s the only continent ruled by natural kingdom and that’s what attracted me to go there. Not because I knew that I would be the first Qatari woman in history to set foot on that land, but because it was a time when I was searching for a sense of purpose in my life; I needed a mission, something greater than myself to fight for,” she explained.
The expedition took Hamida and the group to the Argentinean city of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, then boarded a ship to cross the Drake Passage which is the roughest water in the world. “It was dangerous but exciting adventure. Great things that happen in your life don’t come easy. You do have to take risks and I took that risk and it was the best decision of my life,” she quipped.
Apart from crossing the Drake Passage which she described as the scariest, climbing glaciers, which requires training prior to the trip, was one of the other daunting challenges she had to endure in the course of the expedition.
“It was overwhelming, your life depended on you being fit and teamwork. We had to take care of each other making sure that no one gets hurt or the expedition cut short. It really taught me a lot about teamwork and trust,” she recalled.
Setting foot on the ice desert was an spiritual experience for her with wildlife not scared of humans and the serenity. “The silence that permeates the soul reminded me of my sand desert. Antarctica, an ice desert, is the driest desert in the world,” she observed.
In essence, the documentary ‘Places in the Soul’ juxtaposes Antarctic and Arabian deserts in the eyes of Hamida through her journey in life from Qatar to Antarctica and back in search for her roots and identity.
“Essentially the film has a lot to do with that universal question “Who am I?” - what makes up the places of my soul,” she ended. The film, which has received production and post-production grants from DFI, is one of the eight Qumra projects by Qatari filmmakers participating in the industry event which concludes today.
