James Gray’s Paper Tiger, featuring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller, is set to have its MENA premiere at the second edition of the Doha Film Festival this November.
The Qatari festival on Monday revealed seven feature films that will be included in its Gala and Special Screenings programs.
Also receiving red-carpet treatment is Rami Kodeih’s Beirut-set thriller Furies, which follows two sisters who plan a bank robbery to cover medical expenses. The film had its world premiere in Venice’s Spotlight section in September.
Both Paper Tiger and Furies were produced by Brazilian producer Rodrigo Teixeira through his RT Features label, and benefitted from support by the Film Committee at Media City Qatar. That backing forms part of Media City Qatar’s broader push into the international film arena, announced ahead of last year’s inaugural Doha Film Festival.
Teixeira’s involvement in Furies was accompanied by executive producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who participated under their Smokehouse Pictures banner.
The Gala program will also include Australian director Jeffrey Walker’s family adventure Fing!; Maiken Baird’s Edward Said: Between Worlds, which screened in Toronto; and Bruno Dumont’s Red Rocks.
Among the Special Screenings is Abderrahmane Sissako’s Artou, the Mauritanian-born Malian director’s first 360° immersive film, which likewise received backing from the Film Committee.
Artou, which premiered in Venice’s Immersive competition, follows three sisters and three brothers as they travel from Europe to Mauritania to carry out their father’s final wish: to have him buried beside his own father in their native village.
Additional Special Screenings selections include Daniele Rugo’s Life Support, which chronicles international medical teams collaborating with local health workers in Gaza during 2023; Ginevra Elkann’s drama The Roses of Marrakech; and Ali El Arabi’s 52 Blue, about a reclusive young man who travels from Kerala to Qatar hoping to meet his hero Lionel Messi during the Qatar World Cup.
Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, chief executive of the Doha Film Institute and director of the Doha Film Festival, said the Gala and Special Screenings were chosen to bring people together with films that move them, offer surprises and provoke discussion.
She added that the lineup — spanning intense dramas, timely documentaries and stories infused with humour, adventure and moments of discovery — honours filmmaking that challenges assumptions and seeks dignity and truth within the complexities of human life.
The Doha Film Festival builds on the Doha Film Institute’s long-running Ajyal festival, the family-focused event that has been held for more than a decade around the same period.
The newly announced Gala and Special Screenings titles will join the previously revealed International Competition slate as well as a selection of homegrown Qatari productions.
The festival runs from November 19 to November 27.
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