Made in Qatar, Special Screening
Jamal, a Qatari physician and spearfisherman, sets out to land a world-record dogtooth tuna, the elusive fish known in Swahili as jodari meno. His quest takes him from Qatar to Zanzibar and Italy, pushing him deeper into the sea and further into his own limits. But after repeated failures and an underwater blackout, he must confront his mortality and the true cost of a life built around challenge, in an immersive journey into obsession and meaning.
Jamal, a Qatari physician and spearfisherman, sets out to land a world-record dogtooth tuna, the elusive fish known in Swahili as jodari meno. His quest takes him from Qatar to Zanzibar and Italy, pushing him deeper into the sea and further into his own limits. But after repeated failures and an underwater blackout, he must confront his mortality and the true cost of a life built around challenge, in an immersive journey into obsession and meaning.
Raised in Qatar in a family deeply connected to the sea, Jamal has always understood the water as part of memory, inheritance and belonging. A physician and former cardiac surgeon, he once weighed over 160 kg, and spearfishing became his way back into his body: a discipline that restored his purpose, strength and control. Now he has set his sights on a world record, landing a dogtooth tuna, one of the most elusive and demanding fish in the sport. His pursuit takes him from Qatar to Zanzibar and Italy, but the same drive that transformed him begins to consume him, pulling him between the hunt and his responsibilities as a father, as memories of his late parents rise to the surface.
Then, after repeated failures, Jamal suffers a blackout underwater, a spearfisher’s worst nightmare, forcing him to confront the true cost of a life built around challenge. When he returns to the sea, the record still matters, but the question has changed: what is the chase meant to prove, and what is worth coming back for? Filmed over several years, Jamal Alkhanji’s immersive and introspective debut moves between the open blue of the sea and the intimacy of home, becoming a reflection on legacy, family and what remains when the need to prove oneself begins to change.
Then, after repeated failures, Jamal suffers a blackout underwater, a spearfisher’s worst nightmare, forcing him to confront the true cost of a life built around challenge. When he returns to the sea, the record still matters, but the question has changed: what is the chase meant to prove, and what is worth coming back for? Filmed over several years, Jamal Alkhanji’s immersive and introspective debut moves between the open blue of the sea and the intimacy of home, becoming a reflection on legacy, family and what remains when the need to prove oneself begins to change.
