Doha Film Institute has revealed 45 projects that will benefit from its latest round of grants, including upcoming features from acclaimed directors Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji and Cyril Aris.
Arab and international filmmakers from more than 35 countries will receive backing from the DFI in its 2025 Spring Grants cycle.
Recipients include A Sad And Beautiful World, a Beirut-set romance from Lebanese filmmaker Aris, known for documentary Dancing On The Edge Of A Volcano, which received a special mention when it played in competition at Karlovy Vary in 2023.
Further upcoming titles set to benefit include Madness And Honey Days from UK-based Iraqi filmmaker Al-Daradji, whose feature debut Hanging Gardens premiered at Venice in 2023, going on to win best film at Red Sea and was Iraq’s submission to the Oscars. His latest centres on an actor who is facing execution for accidentally cursing Saddam Hussein on stage and so pretends to be insane.
Moroccan filmmaker Meryem Benm’Barek’s Behind The Palm Trees and Who Wants The Rain Must Accept The Mud from Lebanon’s Danielle Arbid have also received backing.
Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of the DFI, said: “In a time marked by conflict, displacement and uncertainty, these stories offer urgently needed perspectives and affirm the role of film as a witness, a bridge and a call to empathy.”
DFI 2025 Spring Grants recipients
MENA – Feature Narrative – Development
The Arab Apocalypse (Mor-Fr-Qat) | dir. Samy Sidali
In Mohammedia, Simo, a young fisherman, sees the moon crack in two. From now on, the world is split in two—between those who are asleep and can’t wake up, and those who are watching over them.
MENA – Feature Narrative – Production
Madness And Honey Days (Iraq-Can-UK-Jor-Fr-Qat) | dir. Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji
Facing execution for accidentally cursing President Saddam Hussein on stage, actor Salem pretends to be insane. In a Baghdad hospital, his greatest performance begins: staying mad enough to live.
Speak (Tun-It-Fr-Qat) | dir. Nejib Kthiri
Follows a Black Tunisian boy with progressive mutism who strives to reclaim his voice in a society that would deny him one. In 2023 Tunisia, amid a migrant crisis and rising xenophobia, twelve-year-old Walid finds solace in magic as he struggles with identity and discrimination.
Sari & Amira (Qat) | dir. A.J. Al-Thani
In the unforgiving sands of Wadi Sakheema, an outlaw Bedouin bandit couple stumble upon a mythical relic that holds the key to their survival but also awakens forces that could destroy them and their world.
MENA – Feature Narrative – Post-Production
Round 13 (Tun-Cyp-Qat) | dir. Mohamed Ali Nahdi
Kamel is a former boxing champion, happily married to Samia and deeply devoted to their only son, Sabri. Their lives are upended when Sabri is diagnosed with a malignant tumour.
A Sad And Beautiful World (Leb-US-Ger-Saudi-Qat) | dir. Cyril Aris
In this romance set in Beirut over three decades, two star-crossed lovers must decide whether to build a family and a path to happiness, despite the tragedies ravaging contemporary Lebanon.
Behind The Palm Trees (Mor-Fr-Bel-Qat) | dir. Meryem Benm’Barek
In Tangier, Mehdi’s relationship with Selma is shaken when he meets Marie, a wealthy French girl. Drawn to her glamorous lifestyle, he neglects Selma, pretending not to see that his choices will catch up with him.
The Arab (Alg-Fr-Switz-Saudi-Bel-Qat) | dirs. Malek Bensmaïl, Jacques Fieschi
Haroun is an old man who lives in Oran, Algeria. He has an incredible secret—he claims to be the brother of ‘the Arab’, a fictional character killed in Camus’ world-renowned French book, The Stranger.
Safe Exit (Egy-Libya-Tun-Qat) | dir. Mohammed Hammad
A young man suffers from severe PTSD due to witnessing his father’s murder as a child. Ten years later, he finds himself forced to hide a wanted killer.
Once Upon A Time In Gaza (Pal-Fr-Ger-Port-Jor-Qat) | dirs. Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser
A young student and charismatic drug dealer find themselves in a messy game of life, death, and revenge when a corrupt cop takes an interest in their operation.
People Of Solitude (Alg-Fr-Qat) | dir. Tariq Teguia
In the Sahara, a smuggler, a paleoanthropologist, and a man on a rescue mission cross paths. Under the eye of the drone, they will go into the heart of the desert, where good and bad geniuses meet.
Who Wants The Rain Must Accept The Mud (Leb-Fr-Qat) | dir. Danielle Arbid
Suzanne, a widow in her sixties, meets Osmane, a young undocumented migrant worker, one evening in Beirut. They instantly fall in love.
Sa3oud Wainah? (Qat) | dir. Mohammed Al Ibrahim
A magic trick goes horribly wrong when two brothers attempt to replicate it years after learning it from their father.
Non-MENA – Feature Narrative – Post-Production
Renoir (Japan-Fr-Sing-Phil-Indo-Qat) | dir. Chie Hayakawa
An entrancing poetic journey about resilience, the healing power of the imagination, and a traumatized family struggling for connection.
Variations On A Theme (S Afr-Qat) | dirs. Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar
An elderly goat herder falls victim to a scam promising financial reparations for her father, who was never paid for his service in WWII. As she waits for money that will never arrive, her family disrupts her routines on her 80th birthday and threatens to strip away the last of her independence.
The Prophet (Moz-S Afr-Qat) | dir. Ique Langa
A kind-hearted pastor struggles with his faith as he fails to grow his congregation. In secret, he seeks a solution; things seem to go well until they don’t.
MENA – Feature Documentary – Development
Akal (Mor-Qat) | dir. Basma Rkioui
In the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, shepherds and skiers face the harsh realities of climate change. A former skier-turned-director captures the stark contrast of a snowless ski resort, revealing the impact on the land and its people.
Unsettled (Pal-Bel-UK-Qat) | dir. Sami Odeh
After October 7th, an online movement redefined the Israeli-Palestinian narrative, using social media to challenge corporate and political interests’ intent on suppressing the truth.
MENA – Feature Documentary – Production
Pure Madness (Tun-Fr-Qat) | dir. Inès Arsi
A filmmaker embarks on a personal journey to uncover the hidden story of her great-uncle, who disappeared in the 1970s in France and was found in a psychiatric hospital.
Choreography Of A Tyrant (Syr-Fr-Qat)
From 1970 to 2000, Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria with an iron grip before passing power to his son, Bashar. The film examines how the regime meticulously crafted its image through controlled media, exposing the propaganda mechanisms that sustained its rule.
Spiritual Diaries (Mor-Qat) | dir. Rim Mejdi
Follows the coming of age of a young girl while documenting the influence of a spiritual movement on Moroccan society.
The Salt Of The South (Tun-Fr-Bel) | dir. Rami Jarboui
In Gabès, a coastal oasis suffocated | dir. a chemical complex, a fishing family is torn between survival and escape. As land and sea collapse, a mother and her son resist in their own ways, holding on to the fading traces of home, memory, and love.
MENA – Feature Documentary – Post-Production
Do You Love Me (Leb-Fr-Qat) | dir. Lana Daher
An archival journey through Beirut, weaving together Lebanese cinema from the 1950s to the present day, and exploring the country’s psyche and its current state.
With Hasan In Gaza (Pal-Ger-Switz-Fr-Qat) | dir. Kamal Aljafari
Three MiniDV tapes of life in Gaza from 2001 are rediscovered, standing as a testament to a place and time that no longer exists. What began as a search for a former prison mate from 1989 led to an unexpected road trip from the north to the south of Gaza, accompanied | dir. Hasan, a local guide whose fate remains unknown.
Bardi (Mor-Fr-Qat) | dir. Tala Hadid
Horses and men, dust and earth, saints and sinners. Between real and fiction, between the sacred and the profane, Bardi follows an itinerant brotherhood of horsemen across central Morocco.
Non-MENA – Feature Documentary – Post-Production
Memory (Rus-Fr-Neth-Qat) | dir. Vladlena Sandu
The filmmaker, a survivor of the war in Chechnya, studies her traumatic memories in order to transcend and transform them via cinema.
Whisper Of The Wind (Iran-Qat) | dir. Mohammad Sadeq Esmaeili
Jamileh, an 8-year-old Afghan girl, races with her family to see their father one last time before his execution in Iran on drug smuggling charges.
Catching Them Young (India-Ger-Nor-Den-Qat) | dirs. Pankaj Johar, Sunaina Kapoor
As India becomes increasingly right-wing, a school in one of its holiest cities starts preaching extreme idealism to impressionable young minds. While 11-year-old Satyarth chooses a liberal form of his religion, 12-year-old Hari starts believing and embracing Islamophobia.
MENA – TV Series – Development
- Like A Feather In The Breeze (Egy-Qat) | dir. Sherif Elbendary
- Al-Michelin (US-Jor-Qat) | dir. Abdul-Rahman Sakr
- How The East Was Won (Saudi-UK-US-Mor-Jor-Qat) | dir. Hannah Khalil
MENA – Web Series – Production
- Captain Shedeed (Egy-Qat) | dir. Ramy El Gabry
- Legacy Of Light: Echoes From The House Of Wisdom (Qat) | dir. Maha Al-Naemi
MENA – Shorts – Narrative – Development
- The Maker: A Journey Of Bisht (Qat) | dir. Abdulrahman Al-Mana
- Inside The White Canvas (Qat) | dir. Amna Al-Binali
MENA – Shorts – Narrative – Production
- Goodbye Habibi (Pal-US-Qat) | dir. Mike Elsherif
- The Girl Who Cried: Bulldozer! (Pal-Qat) | dir. Rami Alayan
- I Fly Away From You All (Egy-Qat) | dir. Sameh Alaa
- Ghafleh (Leb-Qat) | dir. Tony El Ghazal
- Santa Khan (Bahrain-Qat) | dir. Maryam Mir
- The Last Laugh (Saudi-Qat) | dir. Nour Al Khadra
MENA – Shorts – Documentary – Production
- Hidden Journey (Sud-Rwa-Qat) | dir. Noura Adil Suliman
MENA – Shorts – Experimental/Essay – Development
- Threads Of Support (Qat-Uzbek) | dir. Fahad Al Attiyah
MENA – Shorts – Experimental/Essay – Production
- Imagine Me Like A Country Of Love (Yem-Neth-Qat) | dir. Thana Faroq
- Do It (Egy-Qat) | dir. Yumna Al-Arashi
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