Doha, Qatar: Doha Film Institute (DFI) has marked a major milestone in its global mission to champion independent cinema, announcing the recipients of its 2025 Fall Grants Cycle while surpassing 1,000 supported projects worldwide since the programme's inception.
The 2025 Fall Grants Cycle supports 57 projects from 46 countries, including 10 projects by Qatari and Qatar-based filmmakers, reinforcing DFI's commitment to nurturing local talent while sustaining one of the world's most diverse international film development ecosystems.
Awarded biannually in Spring and Fall, DFI Grants Programme is one of the longest-running film development initiatives in the region, dedicated to identifying and empowering first- and second-time filmmakers globally alongside established MENA directors in Post-Production. The programme supports feature-length and short narratives, documentaries, experimental and essay films, as well as television and web series.
Reflecting the programme's growing global reach, the 2025 Fall cycle is among the most diverse to date, with projects from 14 MENA countries, alongside filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Chief Executive Officer of DFI, Fatma Hassan Alremaihi said: "DFI Grants Programme was created to rebalance the world cinema landscape, so that stories shaped by lived experience, truth, and artistic courage are not the exception, but the foundation. Supporting more than 1,000 projects to date reflects a long-term commitment to important voices, particularly from regions and communities that continue to face barriers to equitable representation.
"The filmmakers selected in the 2025 Fall Grants cycle exemplify the power of independent cinema to question, connect, and reveal deeper truths. We have helped filmmakers claim space, challenge dominant narratives, and ensure that cinema remains a vital force for empathy, dialogue, and shared understanding.
By providing meaningful support and international pathways, we are helping ensure that the future of film is shaped by diversity, authenticity and a plurality of perspectives."
The 2025 Fall Grants recipients include a wide range of narrative, documentary, experimental, television, and short film projects from across the MENA region and beyond. In feature narrative development, the selected projects include The Man Who's Gone by Naji Ismail, an Egypt-Qatar co-production that follows Younes as he leaves Cairo for Upper Egypt after receiving a mysterious request from his dying mother. The Guardian by Muhannad Lamin, a Libya-Algeria-Canada-Qatar collaboration, is set in the Libyan desert, where an elderly Bedouin named Assouf is compelled to guide two hunters into the mountains.
Feature narrative projects in production include Occupational Hazards by Bassel Ghandour, a dark comedy chronicling the experiences of a multi-generational Palestinian family; Wolfmother by Ismael El Iraki, set in Tangier and centered on a smuggler raising her children alone; and Amnesia by Dima Hamdan, which follows a man with no memory who appears in Jericho and begins searching for his identity. Also supported are The Side Effects of Trusting Life by Ahmad Ghossein, about a woman who develops anxiety-induced hearing loss after losing her job during Lebanon's economic collapse; Yammi by Hinde Boujemaa, which explores a family dispute between a sister and brother; The Missing Planet by Marouan Omara, a science-fiction journey through a collapsing Cairo; The Wild Goat by Kardo Mansur, in which a family relocates after pollution devastates their village; and Girl of Wind by Moufida Fedhila, the story of a teenage girl who escapes her stifling life through skateboarding until the return of her dying father forces her to confront her past.
In feature narrative post-production, supported films include Algerican Road by Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche, a road movie set along the southern Sahara; Chronicles from the Siege by Abdallah Al Khatib, which interweaves stories of ordinary people whose lives are overturned when their city is besieged; Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep by Rakan Mayasi, following two sisters who walk into the night in a fog-covered valley governed by tribal codes; and Pipes by Karim Kassem, about a retired water authority worker pressured by his village to restore water while mourning the death of his migrant-worker son.
Feature documentary projects in development include Remind Me to Forget by Lama Jamjoom, set in a communal home for divorced and widowed women in Saudi Arabia; Everything She Didn't Say by Farah Abada, an essay documentary confronting the filmmaker's childhood trauma following her journalist father's murder; My Name is Khalil by Bilal Alkhatib, which explores identity and memory through dance and music; Where Do I Belong by Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, documenting a filmmaker's journey between exile and homecoming in Sudan; and Onions to Forget the Past by Emilien Awada, a personal exploration of his parents' secret correspondence across religious, class, and cultural divides.
In documentary production, the selected projects include Souad and Lamine by Mohamed Ali Nahdi, documenting the lives of the filmmaker's parents, renowned Tunisian artists, and Sama by Rabab Khamis, which follows a ten-year-old girl surviving in the ruins of Gaza by collecting waste to support her family.
Documentary projects in post-production include My Mother & I by Dilpak Majeed, following an elderly Yazidi woman at a crossroads in her life; What Day Are We In by Hussein Zuhour, documenting an actor's 471-day survival journey during the war in Gaza; When The News Breaks You by Hamad Salem Al Hajri, focusing on journalists covering conflicts across the Middle East; Revolutionaries Never Die by Mohanad Yaqubi, an archive-based dialogue restoring militant films from 1973 to 1983; Out of School by Hind Bensari, set in a remote Moroccan village cut off from secondary education; and From Ground Zero +, a collaborative project enabling a new generation of Gazan filmmakers.
The experimental and essay selection in post-production includes B.A.H.R Alphabet by Sabine El Chamaa, an essay film reflecting on the Mediterranean Sea, its colors, its smallest inhabitants, and the plastic lining its shores.
Television projects in development include Dirty Hands by Georges Hazim and Maya Dagher, a dark comedy about four desperate housewives seeking quick cash; The Gate of Resurrection by Firas Khoury, centered on a grief-stricken video editor who sabotages state television to uncover a hidden assassin order; and Arab Love by Nejib Belkadhi, which follows a cross-border romance tested by the realities of the social media age.
Short narrative projects in development include Nouria by Fatima Alnaemi, an animated story about a seamstress whose life changes when a pigeon delivers a golden thread; HADS by Aysha Alabdulla, following a young man navigating a surreal trial to pursue his dream of becoming a chef; Akhir El-Saff by Maryam Al Mohammed, a coming-of-age drama set in a 1990s girls' school; and Qadr by Aisha Al Khanji, about a struggling café owner clinging to his failing business.
Short narrative films in production include A World of Donkeys by Majid Al Remaihi, inspired by the folkloric figure Juha; Ice-Cream by M.A. Fakhroo, following a man spending the day with his younger sister; To the North by Amer Nasser, which tracks a return to northern Gaza after a ceasefire; The Line Between Us by Hind Metwalli, about a young woman confronting unspoken societal rules; Aleppo Fresh by Ghalia Haddad, centered on a man torn between loyalty and survival; There Are No Rabbits in Gaza by Maram Soboh and Widad Shafakoj, depicting daily life in a Gaza camp; A Woman Waiting by Zahra Berrada, about anticipation and uncertainty following a royal pardon; The Bombardment by Mahdi Ali Ali, a romance disrupted by war; Mafar by Khalifa Al Kuwari, set in a future where the sun threatens survival; and Dino's Last Day by Rayane Mcirdi, which follows a factory worker's final shift after four decades.
Short narrative projects in post-production include Abu Fanoos by Amira Abujbara and Horia El Hadad, a fantasy set during a desert trip in Qatar, where a grandfather seeks to protect his grandson from a mysterious presence. Short documentary projects in production include Near - Far: On the Sea Road by Fitnat Waked, which traces a fragile friendship between two young Palestinian women, one living in Yafa and the other in Gaza.
Beyond the MENA region, feature narrative films in post-production include The Devil's Wells by Jairo Boisier Olave, set in a drought-stricken village in South America; My Semba by Hugo Salvaterra, an exploration of survival and identity in an African metropolis; House of the Wind by Auguste Kouemo Yanghu, about an elderly woman whose understanding of family is transformed; Fuxi: Joy in Four Chapters by Qiu Jiongjiong, a surreal cinematic project spanning four millennia; and Filipinana by Rafael Manuel, centered on a young woman working at a country club.
Non-MENA feature documentary projects in post-production include 32 Meters by Morteza Atabaki, following women challenging tradition in a patriarchal Iranian village; Anatomy of a Genocide by Torstein Grude, an observational documentary following the UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine; The Language of Water by Jeissy Trompiz, documenting the last speaker of Venezuela's Anunnuku language; The Kartli Kingdom by Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel, set in a deteriorating sanatorium in Tbilisi; and American Doctor by Poh Si Teng, which follows three American doctors entering Gaza to save lives.
