The Challenge movie is a strikingly beautiful yet ironic visual poem about present-day Qatar, where century old traditions coexist with fantastic wealth.
Remaining detached from his subject matter, the Italian director Yuri Ancarani follows the milieu of Qatar’s “golden youth”, turning documentation of their luxury lifestyle into a sci-fi film of sorts.
Ancarani’s video works were displayed at the 55th Venice Biennale, as well as the world’s largest museums, including The National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and MoMA, New York. The Challenge is a literal challenge to cinema, and received critical acclaim: in 2016, it won the Special Jury Prize at the 69th Locarno International Film Festival, and was part of the program at such American festivals of independent films as True/False and SXSW. In March 2017, the New York Times included Ancarani in the top 9 of new directors who, according to the newspaper, will shape the future of cinema.
The Challenge
Director Yuri Ancarani
Italy, France, Switzerland, 2017. 69 minutes. 16+
