Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (DFI) has unveiled 49 projects taking part in its 2026 Qumra development lab, which is taking place in a virtual format from March 27-April 8.
Earlier this month, the DFI decided to move the lab to online-only due to the ongoing war in the Middle East between the US and Israel, and Iran.
The DFI has selected 27 features, nine series and 13 shorts for the lab, with 47 of them supported by the Institute’s grants programme and five through DFI’s Qatari Film Fund. Forty-three projects are from the Middle East and North Africa region and six are international projects.
Among them is Madness And Honey Days from UK-based Iraqi filmmaker Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji, whose feature debut Hanging Gardens premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2023, and went on to win best film at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival. It was Iraq’s submission to the Oscars.
Madness And Honey Days centres on an actor who is facing execution for accidentally cursing Saddam Hussein on stage and so pretends to be insane.
Egyptian filmmaker Ahmed Fawzi-Saleh’s Hamlet From The Slums has also been selected. The project is about the son of Cairo’s junkyard king who sets out to avenge his best friend’s death, even if it means confronting his father. Fawzi-Saleh’s 2018 drama Poisonous Roses was Egypt’s entry to the Oscars in 2020.
Also selected is Qiu Jiongjiong’s dark comedy Fuxi: Joy In Four Chapters, a culinary guide to Sichuan cuisine. It follows the director’s acclaimed A New Old Play, winner of Locarno’s special jury prize in 2021. His new film spans four millennia and four festivities involving the living, the dying, the dead, and the long dead.
Fifteen of the projects are by Qatar-based filmmakers, including 10 by Qatari nationals, and 17 projects developed through DFI training programmes.
Qumra supports first- and second-time filmmakers by providing bespoke mentorship, industry access and creative development across all stages of filmmaking.
“While we are deeply saddened by the current circumstances in the region, the decision to present Qumra 2026 online reflects Qatar’s resilience and its enduring commitment to continuity, even in the face of significant challenges,” said Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, chief executive officer of DFI.
“Our priority remains to ensure that filmmakers and their projects continue to benefit from meaningful exchange, mentorship and connection. This year’s selection highlights the courage and ambition of today’s filmmakers and the urgency of the stories they are compelled to tell. We are proud to see our nation strongly represented alongside powerful perspectives from across the world.”
Qumra 2026 Projects:
Development – Feature Narrative
• Speak (Tun-Fr-It-Qat) dir. Nejib Kthiri
A black Tunisian boy strives to reclaim his voice in a society that would deny him one.
• The Peacock Queen (Qat) dirs. Aisha Al-Jaidah, Kholoud Al-Ali
A Qatari brother and sister, lost in a world beneath Qatar, who must find three magic pearls to return home.
• The Guardian (Libya-Alg-Can-Fr-Qat) dir. Muhannad Lamin
Two brothers search a remote Libyan wadi for the elusive waddan, a wild mountain sheep; their only hope is a shepherd who refuses to lead them.
• The Missing Planet (Egy-Ger-It-Pol-Qat) dirs. Marouan Omara, Tom Rosenberg
A paramedic searches Cairo for his missing wife, guided by dreams sent from the future by his grieving daughter.
• Girl Of Wind (Tun-Qat) dir. Moufida Fedhila
Skateboarding offers Aida escape in Tunisia, until her dying father returns, forcing her to confront the past and choose her future.
• When I Close My Eyes, I See Your Eyes (Egy-KSA-Qat) dir. Sameh Alaa
A woman’s life unravels after her husband dies suddenly in Cairo; transporting his body home, she finds her inner self.
• Amara (Leb-Fr-Den-Ger-Qat) dir. Michelle Keserwany
Darine lives in her own imaginary bubble, which is burst when confronted with the dark reality of a country in crisis.
Development – Feature Documentary or Essay
• Where Do I Belong? (Sud-Qat) dir. Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad
Returning to a war zone to reunite with his parents, a director confronts the journeys of migration that shaped his third-culture childhood.
• Onions To Forget The Past (Leb-Fr-Qat) dir. Emilien Awada
Born of a forbidden love, I follow my parents’ secret wartime letters, tracing a family history shaped by Lebanon’s divisions.
• Portrait Of A (Jor-Ger-Qat) dir. Rand Beiruty
Over seven years, ‘Portrait of A’ traces Andrea, a Roma immigrant, blending observation and stop-motion animation to explore love, betrayal, and motherhood.
Development – Short Narrative
• Reset (Qat) dir. Dhoha Abdelsattar
In Doha, 2002, 12-year-old Noura’s Tamagotchi dies, triggering her first confrontation with the inevitability of change.
• A Disguised Practice (Qat) dir. Hamad Jassim AlFayhani
In an alternate Qatar, a history teacher investigates his grandfather’s disappearance at sea as he inherits a destiny written in water.
• memorandum of understanding (working title) (Qat) dir. Ali Madi Alhajri
Mariam follows a pull toward a stranger, moving through suspicion and desire as dance fractures the line between discovery and silence.
• Sara’s Shoes (Iran-Qat) dir. Fereshteh Parnian
An impulsive purchase sends a working mother on a quiet, transformative afternoon where she rediscovers herself beyond duty and routine.
• Until The Rain Stops (Pal-Jor-Qat) dir. Jehad Hallaq
After a tragic attack, Haneen fights to save her Jerusalem home, forcing her to confront both her grief and the violence closing in.
Development – TV or Web Series
• Echoes (Leb-Qat) dir. Marie-Rose Osta
In ‘Echoes’, myths don’t stay in the past. They cross into the present, binding two women across time.
• Arab Love (Tun-Egy-KSA-Mor-Qat) dir. Nejib Belkadhi
An online love between an Egyptian mother and a Tunisian flight attendant ignites family wars, social media violence, and impossible choices.
• The Gate Of Resurrection (Pal-Qat) dir. Firas Khoury
A grieving video editor, who sabotages state TV, is recruited by an Assassin sect and forced into revolt to save his brother.
• Visions Of The After (Leb-Qat) dir. Ali Hamouch and Toufic El-Khoury
In a futuristic totalitarian Levant, Dalal finds herself at the intersection of a crisis, a conspiracy and a rebellion.
• Like A Feather In The Breeze (Egy-Qat) dir. Sherif Elbendary
Although Tarek and Laila are both searching for their soulmates, they cross paths without ever truly meeting, until Madame Salwa decides to step in.
In Production – Feature Narrative
• Madness And Honey Days (Iraq-Can-UK-Lux-KSA-Qat) dir. Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji
Accused of treason for a line onstage, a theatre actor escapes execution by feigning insanity and is sent to a Baghdad asylum.
In Production – Feature Documentary or Essay
• Souad And Lamine (Tun-Qat) dir. Mohamed Ali Nahdi
As Alzheimer’s erases his mother, a filmmaker explores his parents’ fierce love, where art, memory, and survival intertwine.
• Mother Street (Mor-Fr-Qat) dir. El Amine Benhachem
Homeless Moroccan children flee the streets of Casablanca for the Goutte d’Or slum in Paris, hoping to find a better life.
• Everything She Didn’t Say (Alg-Fr-Qat) dir. Farah Abada
After my journalist father was murdered in Algeria’s ‘Black Decade’, memory and humour reveal how our family learned to survive.
In Production – TV or Web Series
• Legacy Of Light: House Of Wisdom (US-Qat) dir. Maha Al-Naemi and Spencer Striker
An AI-animated docudrama chronicles Al-Khwarizmi’s journey to the House of Wisdom, where he invented the algorithm and became a legend.
• A Lover’s Manifesto (Leb-Fr-Qat) dir. Alfred Tarazi
An animated history of Beirut, tracing its transformation from 1860 to 1982, forged by revolution before descending into civil war.
Work-in-progress – Feature Narrative
• People Of Solitude (Alg-Fr-Qat) dir. Tariq Teguia
Amjad, the smuggler; Artemis, the paleoanthropologist; and Faune, tasked with releasing a hostage, go to the Sahara, where good and bad geniuses meet.
• Hamlet From The Slums (working title) (Egy-Fr-KSA-Qat) dir. Ahmed Fawzi-Saleh
Ahmed, the son of Cairo’s junkyard king, has to avenge his best friend’s death, even if it means confronting his father.
Work-in-progress – Feature Documentary or Essay
• Rooted In The Wind (Iran-Qat) dir. Mohammad Sadegh Esmaeili
After her father’s execution, 12-year-old Jamileh must fight to prevent an early marriage and keep her undocumented Afghan family together in Iran.
• My Mother & I (Iraq-Egy-Fr-Qat) dir. Dilpak Majeed
A Yazidi woman finds herself at a crossroads between the comfort of solitude and the uncertain promise of a new chapter, as changes begin to flow through her once-quiet world.
• Choreography Of A Tyrant (Syr-Fr-Qat) dir. Qutaiba Barhamji
The discovery of censored images of Hafez al-Assad exposes how a single flaw can unravel a carefully engineered myth.
• The Language Of Water (Ven-Do-Per-Qat) dir. Jeissy Trompiz Albornoz
Jofris, the last speaker of an Indigenous language, is called home by his grandmother’s dreams, against his will.
Work-in-progress – Short Narrative
• Where The Sun Never Sets (Mor-Fr-Qat) dir. Yassine Ouahrani
When a person dear to him leaves the factory, a worker seeks a smuggler’s services to erase their memory.
• Ghafleh (Leb-Qat) dir. Tony El Ghazal
Struggling to make up for lost time, a watchmaker races to craft his daughter’s watch before their seconds tick away.
• Sundial (Sud-Egy-US-Qat) dir. Atheel Elmalik
In the midst of escaping the war in Sudan, teenage Najma must rely on the sun for one last chance to see Ziyad.
• A Donkey Will (Qat-Uzb) dir. Majid Al-Remaihi
A retelling of a folktale, ‘A Donkey Will’ reimagines the figure of Nasreddin, a folkloric jester figure, in modern-day Bukhara.
Work-in-progress – Short Documentary or Essay
• NESYAN (Qat-Leb) dir. Aya Al Blouchi
‘NESYAN’ follows the One, the Other, and the Ghost, exploring loss, memory, distance, and the unseen presence shaping separation.
Work-in-Progress – TV or Web Series
• The Walled Off Hotel VR Experience (Pal-Ger-Nl-KSA-Qat) dir. Amer Shomali
Trapped in Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel, you and Ka the parrot uncover life behind the wall where art, humour, and politics meet.
Picture Lock – Feature Narrative
• Pipes (Leb-Qat) dir. Karim Kassem
A retired water authority worker is called back to search for a missing pipe causing havoc in a quiet village.
• Fuxi: Joy In Four Chapters (HK-Taiwan-Qat) dir. Qiu Jiongjiong
Spanning four millennia, four feasts invite us to dine with the living, dying, dead and long dead alike.
• Radiesthesia (Cl-Ar-Bra-Fr-Qat) dir. Jairo Boisier Olave
Judith (15) possesses the mysterious gift of finding water underground—until one day she finds something else in an old well.
• House Of The Wind (Cam-Fr-Belg-Bj-KSA-Qat) dir. Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu
Josette, 75, struggling with her loneliness in Yaoundé, oversees the construction of a house for one of her sons living abroad.
Picture Lock – Feature Documentary or Essay
• Revolutionaries Never Die (Pal-Belg-Qat) dir. Mohanad Yaqubi
An archive-based cinematic dialogue where Jocelyne Saab’s celluloid confronts memory and resistance through restoration and remembrance.
• Bardi (Mor-Fr-Qat) dir. Tala Hadid
Through the rhythm of bodies, horses, dust and song, ‘Bardi’ explores contemporary questions of masculinity and transformation.
• When The News Breaks You (Qat-Pal-Gr-Leb-Tr) dir. Hamad Al Hajri
The struggle of journalists working in the Middle East.
Picture Lock – Short Narrative
• Light To Ashes (Qat-Fr) dir. Nadia Al-Khater
A young Bedouin poet and his sister’s quiet desert life is disrupted when a wounded tribesman returns to camp.
Picture Lock – Short Documentary Or Essay
• In The Silence After (Col-US-Qat) dir. Sebastian Delascasas
A son returns home to care for his mother, filming the last year they will spend together.
• Threads Of Support (Qat-Uzb) dir. Olya Korsun
A poetic yet critical meditation on silk weaving in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan.
Showcase – TV or Web Series
• Captain Shedeed (Egy-Qat) dir. Ramy El Gabry
An ordinary father becomes a reluctant hero to stop a deadly virus and confront the cost of true responsibility.
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