Doha Film Festival selects 13 titles for international feature competition

Doha Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up of 13 titles for its international feature film competition at its inaugural edition, which takes place November 20-28. 

The line-up includes Tarzan and Arab Nasser’s Once Upon A Time In Gaza, which world premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, winning the best directing prize.

Scroll down for full line-up

It is one of two Gaza stories to make it into Doha’s competition, alongside documentary With Hasan In Gaza by Kamal Aljafari which world premiered in main competition at the Locarno Film Festival this summer.

Also selected is Hasan Hadi’s Iraq-set The President’s Cake, which world premiered in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, winning the Camera d’Or prize.

The selected films span five continents and explore contemporary themes from ecological crisis to war displacement. Ten of the titles are co-productions involving Qatar.

They include documentary Khartoum, which world premiered at Sundance, about five Khartoum residents displaced by the war, and Jihan K’s My Father And Qaddafi about the filmmaker’s quest to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of her father, a peaceful opposition leader to former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

The Reserve by Mexico’s Pablo Pérez Lombardini is about an obstinate park ranger who convinces her community to expel a group of invaders from their natural reserve, provoking a far greater threat.

Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of DFI, said: “These powerful artistic expressions represent the creativity and resilience of humanity and demonstrate the capability of film to shape the future of our societies. Through these stories that engage empathy, reflection and connection, we are creating safe spaces for meaningful dialogue to counter prevailing narratives.”

The festival will take place in locations across Doha, including Katara Cultural Village, Msheireb Downtown Doha, and the Museum of Islamic Art.

Doha Film Festival - International Feature Competition 2025

• Khartoum (Sud-UK-Ger-Qat) Dirs. Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed and Philip Cox
• Cotton Queen (Sud-Ger-Fr-Pal-Egy-Qat) Dir. Suzannah Mirghani
• Once Upon A Time In Gaza (Pal-Fr-Ger-Por-Qat) Dirs. Tarzan & Arab Nasser
• With Hasan In Gaza (Ger-Pal-Fr-Qat) Dir. Kamal Aljafari
• The President’s Cake (Iraq-US-Qat) Dir. Hasan Hadi
• My Father And Qaddafi (Lib-Leb-Qat) Dir. Jihan K
• Renoir (Jap-Fr-Sin-Phil-Ind-Qat) Dir. Chie Hayakawa
• Sleepless City (Sp-Fr-Qat) Dir. Guillermo García López
• The Last Shore (Belg-Fr-Qat) Dir. Jean-Francois Ravagnan
• The Reserve (Mex-Qat) Dir. Pablo Pérez Lombardini
• Divine Comedy (Iran-It-Fr-Ger-Tur) Dir. Ali Asgari
• Hair, Paper, Water (Belg-Fr-Viet) Dir. Truong Minh Quý and Nicolas Graux
• Blue Heron (Can-Hun) Dir. Sophy Romvari