Doha Film Festival, which takes place from Nov. 19 to 27, has unveiled its Gala Screenings and Special Screenings programs, which include James Gray’s thriller “Paper Tiger.” Also selected are “Edward Said: Between Worlds,” Maiken Baird’s documentary exploring the life and legacy of the Palestinian American scholar; Bruno Dumont’s “Red Rocks,” which offers a perspective on childhood, freedom and imagination; Jeffrey Walker’s family adventure “Fing!”; “Life Support,” Daniele Rugo’s documentary about international medical volunteers working alongside Palestinian colleagues in Gaza; Ginevra Elkann’s atmospheric drama “The Roses of Marrakech,” where an unexpected arrival unsettles the carefully ordered lives of those who inhabit it; Ali El Arabi’s debut feature “52 Blue,” about a young man’s journey to Qatar World Cup to meet his idol, Lionel Messi; Rami Kodeih’s thriller “Furies”; and “Artou,” an immersive film by Abderrahmane Sissako. Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of Doha Film Institute and director of Doha Film Festival, said: “Our Gala and Special Screenings will bring audiences together through films that move, surprise, and spark conversation. From gripping dramas and timely documentaries to stories filled with humor, adventure and discovery, the selection celebrates the courage to question what we take for granted and find dignity and truth in the complexity of human experience.
Audiences will leave the cinema with new perspectives, questions to reflect on, and stories that stay with them long after the final frame.” Three of the films in the lineup were supported by Film Committee at Media City Qatar, underlining the reach of Qatar’s burgeoning industry. These were “Paper Tiger,” “Furies,” and “Artou.” Gala Screenings“Edward Said: Between Worlds” (U.S./Qatar) by Maiken Baird is set 23 years after the death of Palestinian American scholar, musician and intellectual Edward Said, who revisits the untold history of Palestine in his own words. The film offers an intimate portrait of a defining intellectual voice while examining the enduring question of who has the right to tell their own story. (Middle East Premiere) “Fing!” (Australia/U.K.) by Jeffrey Walker is about Myrtle Meek who has everything she could ever want, yet for her 12th birthday she demands a Fing.
Nobody knows what a Fing is, but her doting parents agree to the request, sending her father on a journey to a lost jungle to find one. (International Premiere) “Furies” (Lebanon/Brazil) by Rami Kodeih follows determined single mother Maro a year after Lebanon’s economic collapse, who needs her savings to pay for her younger sister Dalia’s life-saving surgery, but when the bank refuses to release the money, the sisters devise a daring, all-night heist to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. (MENA Premiere) “Paper Tiger” (U.S.) by James Gray is set in 1980s New York, following two brothers whose pursuit of the American Dream draws them into a scheme that seems too good to be true. As they navigate the dangerous world of the Russian mafia, corruption and violence threaten their family, testing their integrity and the loyalties that bind them. (MENA Premiere) “Red Rocks” (Portugal/France/Italy/Spain/Qatar) by French auteur Bruno Dumont captures a summer on the French Riviera through the fearless adventures of rival gangs of children involving daredevil cliff-jumping competitions. (MENA Premiere) Special Screenings“Artou” (France/Mauritania/Luxembourg/Qatar), the first 360° immersive film by Abderrahmane Sissako follows three sisters and three brothers on their journey from Europe to Mauritania to fulfill the last wish of their father to be laid to rest beside his father in his native village. (Middle East Premiere) “Life Support” (U.K./Qatar) by Daniele Rugo is set in Gaza post October 2023, when the city is sealed off from the world with international doctors among the few able to enter its hospitals to volunteer. Filmed largely on the doctors’ phones, the film offers an intimate account of the people striving to preserve life amid a devastating humanitarian crisis. (MENA Premiere) “The Roses of Marrakech” (Le Rose Di Marrakech) (Italy) by Ginevra Elkann is about Leila, the devoted housekeeper of Madame Isabelle, who lives in a luxurious estate.
When her sister arrives unexpectedly with news of a past Leila has long buried, the tranquillity of the estate begins to fracture, revealing the secrets and unresolved histories beneath its seemingly timeless surface. (Middle East Premiere) “52 Blue” (India/Egypt/U.S.) by Ali El Arabi is a coming-of-age drama that tells the story of Ashish, a reclusive young man set on meeting his idol, Lionel Messi, at the World Cup in Qatar. Lying to his family, he embarks on a journey that leads him from the peaceful and sheltered bubble of his rural Kerala home to a job as a stadium worker. (MENA Premiere)
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