Paper Tiger to make MENA premiere at Doha Film Festival
James Gray's Paper Tiger will make its first showing in the Middle East and North Africa at the second Doha Film Festival.
The film, starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller, is one of seven titles announced on Monday, 19 October for the festival's Gala and Special Screenings strands, according to Deadline. The festival runs from 19 to 27 November.
Paper Tiger arrives with a direct Qatar connection. It was produced by Rodrigo Teixeira under his RT Features banner and supported by the Film Committee at Media City Qatar. The same combination sits behind Furies, the festival's other headline gala title.
Furies is a Beirut-set thriller from director Rami Kodeih. It follows two sisters who plan a bank heist to pay for medical treatment, and it world premiered in the Venice Spotlight section in September. George Clooney and Grant Heslov served as executive producers under their Smokehouse Pictures banner, Deadline reported.
The rest of the Gala lineup spans documentary and arthouse. It includes Jeffrey Walker's Fing!, Maiken Baird's Edward Said: Between Worlds and Bruno Dumont's Red Rocks. Galas at Doha are reserved for Middle East and North African premieres by established directors or major productions, according to the Doha Film Festival.
Four more titles feature in Special Screenings. They are Abderrahmane Sissako's Artou, Daniele Rugo's Life Support, Ginevra Elkann's The Roses of Marrakech and Ali El Arabi's 52 Blue. Artou first screened in Venice's Immersive competition, a section for virtual reality and immersive work.
What makes this stand out is the through-line. Two Qatar-supported productions lead the announcement, with Venice premieres now routed to Doha for their regional launches.
The wider festival is taking shape. It will open with Sara Ishaq's Yemeni feature Station, an award winner, the festival confirmed in September. Fatma Hassan Alremaihi is chief executive of the Doha Film Institute and director of the Doha Film Festival.
