A French documentary filmmaker is working on a film called The Other Qatar, which focuses on the country’s marine environment. The 52-minute film will show the country’s marine environment, coastal areas and the Qataris’ relationship with the sea and the environment. “My documentary will show two sides of Qatar… the beauty of it and the parts that need preservation, because not many people know how to take care of the environment here. My documentary will mostly focus on the marine environment and the coastal areas,” said Julie Clavier (pictured), a 24-year-old French filmmaker, who graduated from the École Superieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle in Paris. Clavier, who lived here more than 10 years ago, said Qatar was her second home and wants to help preserve and take care of the country’s environment. “I hope that when I finish my film and show this to the Ministry of Environment, they will see that Qatar is a beautiful country with a good environment, but the people here need to protect it,” she said. Clavier said she also wants to “show the government that they can benefit from taking care of their environment and introduce ecotourism.” The first two to three minutes of the documentary, Clavier said, will feature the breathtaking views of the country, the growing city of Doha, its new developments, and will later include some problems of the country’s environment that needs looking into. Clavier, who said she also later scheduled interviews with government officials, locals and foreigners who have seen the country grow and change in the last 20 years, had to follow a French scientific team who was asked by the Ministry of Environment to make a marine, terrestrial and aerial expedition and do a “sensitivity mapping” of Qatar’s coastal areas. “I used to live in Qatar more than 10 years ago and I was shocked to see the changes, especially in Doha… and the sea had changed so much. My friends and I, when we were kids, used to go swimming near the Doha Sheraton Hotel… Qatar is my second home and I am happy to see it grow, but I would also want the Ministry of Environment to look into taking care of the country’s marine life,” she said, while showing pictures of her recent expedition with the French scientific team. The documentary, Clavier said, will feature the members of the French scientific team: Eric Dutrieux, Romain Legall and Francesca Benzoni; Hamad Almuhanadi, head of the Ministry of Culture’s Folklore Committee; writer and environmentalist Hassan Ibrahim Al Jefaire; Dr. Moshin Al Ansi, head of the Environmental Studies at the Qatar University; and Fran Gillespie from the Qatar National History Group, among others. “I have around 40 to 50 tapes of over 40 minutes… and right now, I have so many things to go over,” she said. Clavier said she met with officials of some TV stations in France, like Planète Thalassa, and the Al Jazeera TV here, regarding the showing of her documentary. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=August2009&file=Local_News2009081323651.xml

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