Doha Film Festival unveils 15-film competition with seven women directors
Seven women directors will compete for top prizes at the Doha Film Festival, which has unveiled a 15-title lineup for its second edition.
The festival will run Nov. 19-27 in Doha. Most of the 15 competition films will screen as Middle East premieres, meaning their first public showing in the region, as reported by Variety. A regional premiere matters. It is often the moment a film meets distributors, press and audiences from across the Middle East for the first time.
Seven of the 15 titles were directed by women. Four are Palestinian films, according to Variety. That gives women directors almost half the competition slots. It also places Palestinian stories firmly in this year's race.
The festival will open with "The Station," a drama from director Sara Ishaq. The opening film plays on the first night to a combined audience of public ticket holders, press and industry guests. The choice sets the programme's first impression.
Eleven of the 15 competition titles were supported by the Doha Film Institute, the Qatari body that funds development, production and training for filmmakers in the region. The link is direct. The institute backs films early, and the festival then platforms the finished work. The cash prizes are large by festival standards, with $75,000 for best narrative feature and $50,000 for best documentary, as reported by Variety.
The International Feature Film Competition is designed for feature-length fiction and documentary films from the past year, according to the festival's rules page. In plain terms, fiction covers acted stories and documentary covers real life. The festival held its inaugural edition last November, as reported by Deadline. This second edition builds on that launch.
The festival also runs strands for shorter work. Short-film submissions for the 2026 festival opened on May 10, 2026, with categories for Made in Qatar and International Short Film, according to the festival's submissions page. Those sections sit alongside the feature competition.
What makes this stand out for audiences is access. Many of these 15 titles have not yet screened in the Middle East. Doha will be the first chance to see them with the filmmakers in the room.
