Liwan: Liwan Design Studios and Labs on Wednesday announced the organization of The Set: Design for Screen film program over the upcoming weekend. The event is curated by Doha-based visual artist, screenwriter, and producer Luciana Ceccatto Farah, to explore the influential role of design in cinematic storytelling.
According to Qatar News Agency, the program is presented in partnership with Doha Film Institute (DFI), Katara Studios, The Film House, and the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam, forming a meeting point between the worlds of design and cinema through a combination of screenings, panel discussions, exhibitions, and immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences.
The Set: Design for Screen reveals over Friday and Saturday how multiple disciplines-from set construction and costume design to color grading, sound engineering, and props-come together to shape cinematic worlds in the minds of designers before they are captured by the camera.
Director of Liwan Design Studios and Labs, Aisha Bint Nasser Al Sowaidi, said the program reflects Liwan's commitment to supporting design as a vital and active force in shaping how stories are told and experienced. She highlighted that by bringing together designers, filmmakers, and the public, the program sheds light on the invisible creative effort in cinema and invites audiences to engage with the processes that transform ideas into immersive worlds seen on screen.
Across the weekend, a curated selection of films, primarily short films, will serve as case studies to illustrate how design choices become narrative tools and contribute to constructing cinematic experiences that captivate the senses. Complementing the screenings, a series of panel discussions will convene department heads and creatives to analyze the technical rigor behind the screen and delve into the mechanics of storytelling, examining how design decisions operate within the cinematic frame.
Reflecting on the collaborative nature of filmmaking, curator Luciana Ceccatto Farah said: "As filmmakers, we create worlds for our stories, and then we collaborate with designers to bring those worlds to life; from set designers, sound engineers, costume and prop designers, and colourists. Graphic designers not only design titles and printed props, but also prepare pitch decks to attract investors and grants." She noted that filmmakers work alongside designers at every stage of a film project: from development, pre-production, production, post-production, and through to packaging for marketing and distribution.
The exhibition component of the program transforms this exploration into a tangible physical space, functioning as a living archive of the creative process. Rather than presenting final results, the exhibitions focus on the creative process itself, displaying early screenplays, sketches, models, prototypes, and material tests, revealing how cinematic worlds evolve behind the scenes before appearing on screen.
Among the featured exhibitions, Cleopatra: A Stereotype in Technicolor draws on reproduced materials from the Qatar Museums Media Collection to examine the visual and cultural construction of one of cinema's most famous films. Through original visual blueprints and archival materials from the 1963 epic Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the exhibition provides an in-depth study of manufacturing history and cinematic spectacle.