Karim Kassem Premieres 'Pipes' at Karlovy Vary
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- "Pipes" world-premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival's Crystal Globe Competition, becoming director Karim Kassem's fifth film in five years following the IDFA-winning "Octopus."
- The film is a spinoff expanding Hassan, a retired water authority worker played by non-actor Ghassan Saad, who was first introduced as a supporting character in Kassem's 2024 drama "Moondove."
- Kassem cast an ensemble of non-actor villagers to explore water shortages and migrant disappearances, with Hassan's late friend — a migrant worker — revealed to have possibly been killed rather than having died in an accident.
- The Doha Film Institute is among the MENA funders Kassem credited for his pace, calling post-production financing "the most guaranteed fund" because "when a jury sits in front of the film, they're watching it instead of relying on an idea."
- Kassem said European funding "takes way more time," citing that it "takes eight months just to find out about a pre-selection" — a delay he "couldn't wait around" for.
- The director argued MENA funds should focus on local talent rather than widen their scope, warning "there are a lot of people here who deserve to be funded but aren't. I don't want to be the exception."
- Kassem linked his water-focused films to ongoing conflict, saying "we have an invasion going on, ethnic cleansing, and I think it's mostly because of water, which is the source of life."
Why it matters: Kassem's pace — five films in five years bankrolled by MENA bodies like the Doha Film Institute — offers a working alternative to Europe's multi-year co-production timeline, even as he warns the region is underfunding its own talent pool.
