Discoveries from Qatar World Cinema

A Captive Childhood is a documentary film that focuses on the holding of Jerusalemite children captive in their homes at the hands of the Israeli occupation, depriving them of their freedom.

Brother and sister Abdulla and Hessa are transported to a mythical world, embarking on a deadly quest to find three magic pearls that will allow them to return home before being stranded forever.

Out in the beautiful quiet of the desert, a man teaches his young sons how to track and hunt. Frustration leads to an apparently harmless struggle between the two brothers – but their carelessness brings about sudden disaster. Qatari filmmaker A.J. Al Thani’s film strikes just the right balance of calm and calamity, adolescence and adulthood, knowhow and panic to tell a seemingly simple story with a sense of gravity that will echo with anyone who has seen an innocent plan go horribly wrong.

The growing struggle for Palestinian self-determination between 1960 and 1980 was supported by radical left-wing movements worldwide, also in Japan. This is illustrated by a collection of 16mm films by militant filmmakers from various countries, which were dubbed and screened in Japan. Their Japanese audiences felt oppressed by the US after World War II, and not only sympathized but also identified with the Palestinians.

Despite their different aspirations, backgrounds, and origins, Ilyasse and Pauline, scientists in their early twenties, share one common dream: escaping to the moon to address Earth's problems. Each of them dedicates all their resources and efforts to achieve this goal. But what if space was political, and what if dreaming was too?

The story of a city and its uprisings. From the 1940s into the present, Rania Rafei follows Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-biggest city, over the years, moving through different generations and factions. An act of political tenderness.

Stuck in Shatila refugee camp without an identity, Khodor is a loud, unpredictable teenager whose life revolves around pigeons, fleeting relationships, and a system that won't recognize him. As his stepmother fights to secure an ID that would grant him freedom beyond the camp, access to education, and health care, Khodor's wild spirit and charm leave us wondering-can a boy with no papers ever find a way out?

A divorced Arab mother reunites with her son and insists on washing him, prompting him to face her unique expression of love.

The Third Rahbani is a documentary that sheds light on the life, career, and legacy of Lebanese composer Elias Rahbani (1938—2021). Drawing upon rich personal archives and numerous interviews, director Feyrouz Serhal reflects on the career of the younger brother of Assi and Mansour Rahbani, sibling composers globally known for their work with iconic singer Fairuz. Serhal’s film charts Elias Rahbani’s rise on the Lebanese and Arab music scene.

Firas, a Jordanian-Lebanese nine-year-old visits Jordan for the first time in nine years to renew his passport. After constantly feeling like a stranger in Lebanon, (where he lived all his life) he is convinced that he'd finally feel at home in Jordan. Through a series of dramedic events, it becomes clear that the two neighboring countries are worlds apart. Determined to fit in, Firas must go to extreme lengths to prove that he can finally belong.

A couple checks into a 20th-floor suite with sea view and sealed windows, their non-optional stay funded by the Qatar government. Suspended between realities, the Covid-positive pair gaze down at the stream of miniature cars and people below - searching for hope as everyone's fate hangs in the balance.

When her mother forbids her from biting her nails, Sarah has to abide by new rules she doesn't understand. By taking control of her actions and other people's attitudes toward her, Sarah redefines her relationship with others and herself.

Al Jazeera Investigations exposes how the Israel lobby influences British politics. A six-month undercover investigation reveals how Israel penetrates different levels of British democracy.

Al Jazeera’s two-part documentary Killing the Count examines the eventful life of Count Folke Bernadotte, head of the Swedish Red Cross and a leading figure in the rescue of thousands of concentration camp prisoners in World War II. Count Folke was appointed as UN Mediator in the first Arab-Israeli war, shortly before he was assassinated by Zionist extremists in 1948.

In war-scarred Kyiv, Crimean Tatar activists Zarema and Eskender Bariiev raise three children under missile fire while fighting to free their occupied homeland, Crimea. Between air raids, they campaign for political prisoners like Nariman Dzhelyal and lead efforts to rescue abducted museum director Leila Ibrahimova. They also stand beside fellow refugees—Rustem, seeking justice for his teenage son killed in a strike, and Elena, mourning her fallen soldier husband. Both intimate and urgent, the film reveals a conflict within a conflict: Ukraine’s Indigenous Muslim community battling for survival, justice, and the right to return home.

Traffic rushes by as if nothing has happened. But beside the road, the rubble is smoldering, and firefighting helicopters are circling overhead. Ten minutes in, this is the first specific image we see of the devastating explosion that took place on 4 August 2020 at the Port of Beirut. Until this point, its presence in the film has been indirect—a man smoking beside a broken window, the distant sounds of ships’ horns and sirens.

Suzi (Suzannah Mirghani) is the voice of her generation—the virtual voice, that is.

A look at the events that triggered the Khomeini movement and led to Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979.

What is the legacy of Iran’s Islamic revolution and how does it affect Iranian society more than three decades later?

Thana Faroq returns to Yemen after a decade of geographical and emotional separation. Oscillating between personal drawings, intimate voice recordings and footage from the streets of Yemen, her thoughts about home take on new forms.

Israel’s Genocide on Gaza has displaced nearly two million Palestinians since October 2023. And with calls by some Israeli politicians to permanently expel Palestinians from the Strip, fear is growing of yet another forced population transfer. An Israeli minister has even called the current war the “Gaza Nakba”, referring to the forced displacement of Palestinians in 1948-49.

Kurt Moser spent 30 years shooting scenes in war zones that no one should see. Now, he's catching light in Italy with his giant camera. In his decades of experience as a war cameraman, Kurt Moser had never seen a camera like the one he discovered under a blanket in a studio in Milan.

A filmmaker documents the final days of a crumbling cinema in Jordan, revealing personal stories during regional upheaval, and a quiet reflection on loss, memory, and resilience amid larger collapses.

Amal was helped to overcome her classroom literacy struggles by her loving mother Fraiha.

How Palestinians rebelled against prison as a tool of organized subjugation, establishing the idea of ​​escaping from prison before arriving there, and developing multiple forms of infiltrating the prison's security system.

When Palestinian father Abou Yousef leaves for Gaza after a decade of living in Norway, his daughter Mai begins to confront the emotional distance shaped by his 20 years of imprisonment in Israel.

The harvest is over, but a particularly severe drought is causing water problems in the village. Every season, a play is performed in the village, and this year's play is entitled ‘Departures’.

In a remote conservative village in the South of Egypt, a group of disenfranchised Coptic girls rebel by forming an all-female street theater troupe. They dream of becoming actresses, dancers and singers, challenging their families and the villagers with their provocative performances. Shot across four years, this coming-of-age story focuses on those girls, as they transition from childhood to womanhood.

Hamas’s incursion into Israel on October 7 transformed the politics of the Middle East. Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has carried out a forensic analysis of the events of that day – examining seven hours of footage from CCTV, dashcams, personal phones and headcams of dead Hamas fighters, and drawing up a comprehensive list of those killed. In October 7, the I-Unit reveals widespread human rights abuses by Hamas fighters and others who followed them through the fence from Gaza into Israel. But the investigation also found that many of the worst stories that came out in the days following the attack were false. This was especially true of atrocities that were used repeatedly by politicians in Israel and the West to justify the ferocity of the bombardment of the Gaza Strip, such as the mass killing of babies and allegations of widespread and systematic rape.

A biography of the Saudi jihadist Ibn al-Khattab, most known for fighting in both the First and Second Chechen Wars.

Director Yaser Kassab followed in his father’s footsteps by emigrating as a young man from Syria to Europe, and like his father he also had the ambition to become a filmmaker. Now they are working together on this film remotely. From Syria, the father gives his son direction on the phone or in video calls, along with advice about future film projects or how to organize his life—loving conversations interspersed with well-intentioned parental advice.

Khartoum: Spring 2019. Mass demonstrations have been underway for a month now, protesting against the military government. Following the welcome end to the brutal rule of Omar al-Bashir, the new regime still hasn’t handed over power to a civilian government.

In a mysterious forest, a woman is slowly lured into a nostalgic daydream as she observes butterflies.

In 1972 Yugoslavia became the site of Europe’s last smallpox epidemic. This gripping archival documentary, aptly described by its creators as a medical thriller, reconstructs the dramatic events of those spring months, and viewers will find it difficult not to draw comparisons with the worldwide events of the past two years.

Filmmaker Majid Al-Remaihi ruminates on the experience of witnessing his mother’s terminal memory loss over the course of many years.

Little Dunia is asked to wait in the car in an effort to shield her from her mother's desperate decision, but when a curious cop comes a-knocking, Dunia's innocence is suspensefully put to the test.

Longtime friends divided by war, Raed is trapped in Gaza while George watches from afar, one locked in, one locked out.

Abstract images and written text are the two components of this testimony of domestic violence, physical and psychological, that shaped the narrator’s childhood. It is told by a woman who recalls diffuse memories of a decade of abuse endured by her and her sisters, and their escape from it. The text, which appears on screen sentence by sentence, does not tell the entire story. These are fragments, snippets, shards of a story.

Discarded footage repurposed to experiment the boundaries of wasted time and sound.

A newlywed Egyptian man struggles to attend a crucial job interview due to a visit from his needy in-laws.

An exploration of the definitions and ideas of heaven in the minds of three different voices.

Piecing together the powerful testimonies of Bedouin women fighting to preserve their culture and history, we move between fragmented representations of their homes as the protagonists narrate their stories giving voice and texture to absence, taking up space, refusing to be erased.

The repetitive actions of men and machines become a dance of grace and beauty in ‘Makh’bz’ as Aisha Al Muhannadi transforms the making of bread in Madinat Khalifa into a mesmerising vision. Following the stages of the breadmaking process – from mixing ingredients through kneading, baking and packaging – ‘Makh’bz’ is a stunning meditation on the time, energy and skilled craft that go into providing Doha with its daily bread.

In an abstrusely dystopian future, a man wants to go back to his family. But bypassing the latest system becomes a near impossible journey

Mary tries her best to be the perfect wife, before an incident happens revealing an unexpected sad truth that deeply affected Mary and changed her life forever.

Revenge Knows Nothing combines two stories in a creative manner showcasing the horrific effects of human injustice and selfish actions on its victims; being human or not.

Hospitals are supposed to be immune from attack in times of war but Israel has repeatedly bombed and shelled them since October 7, 2023. This film looks at Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s hospitals in the context of its historical expansion at the expense of the Palestinian population, going back to 1948. The Israeli army cut off water, power, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza and has attacked most of its hospitals. It claims that al-Shifa Hospital shielded a Hamas command centre and attacked it despite the hundreds of civilians sheltering there – but produced little evidence to support that claim. The alleged war crimes that the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for on both sides include Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians, many of whom have taken shelter in Gaza’s hospitals.

The death of the film director’s mother hit her very hard. She was just a child when this happened, and memories fade with the passage of time. Thus, the home videos that the most important woman in her life extensively shot begin to enter the picture.

After 14 days of isolation in Japan, Sultan acquires his first ever camera to capture what remains of his feelings & thoughts from his time alone. As he reviews his footage, his audible written reflections unravel into a questionnaire, forcing him to confront his own self.

For more than two decades, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya served as a pediatrician in northern Gaza, rising to lead Kamal Adwan Hospital. Though he had many chances to leave, he chose to stay with his patients even as Israeli attacks escalated. With each passing month, the toll deepened. His son was killed, his hospital repeatedly struck, and his life threatened. Still, he remained at Kamal Adwan. His resilience was captured in a 10-second video: a lone pediatrician in a white coat walking through rubble toward Israeli forces. To the world, it symbolized defiance. To his family and colleagues, it reflected who he always was. Through firsthand testimony, archival footage, and on-the-ground reporting, Fault Lines investigates the assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the raid that led to Dr. Abu Safiya’s unlawful detention, and the broader targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system.