Doha Film Institute Chief Reveals Plans to Launch New Film Festival in Qatar, Details to Be Unveiled in Cannes
Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi has confirmed plans for a new film festival to be launched in the Qatari capital in November, details of which will be unveiled in Cannes.
News that the DFI was planning a new film event surfaced last November during its Ajyal Film Festival dedicated to youth and family-friendly cinema. Al Remaihi mentioned it during Ajyal's opening ceremony, but she has never spoken about it since then.
The new DFI event will take place during Ajyal's customary November slot and will be an evolution of Ajyal.
November is a busy time on the Arab film festival circuit between Egypt's El Gouna in October, Marrakech in late November, and Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Festival in December.
'We are very excited about the upcoming edition,' Al Remaihi said. 'We will have new programming elements in the festival, both for the industry and the filmmakers, and also for the broader audience,' she added before underlining that further details will be unveiled on the Croisette.
Ajyal, which has become a year-round program, will be partly incorporated into the new event.
As for what prompted this move, Al Remaihi noted that the DFI is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and the new film festival is an organic part of the evolution of the organization which runs an important film grants and workshop program that regularly spawns films selected by major festivals and has become a top MENA region film industry driver.
Al Remaihi spoke during the DFI's ongoing Qumra event, an incubator and co-production market that helps foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors, now at its 11th edition, where this year's mentors include Johnnie To, Walter Salles, and Darius Khondji.
Qumra was conceived by the DFI following the failure of the Tribeca Doha Film Festival, which ran from 2009 until 2012.
The new festival will see the DFI 'evolving into something that's more needed for the industry, especially here in Doha, but also for the wider industry in the MENA region. So we are really excited about this,' she said. 'We are really happy to unveil it because I know that a lot of people are asking questions.'
Two questions about the upcoming new DFI festival that have been swirling among attendees during Qumra are whether it will have an industry component and whether Qumra will be incorporated into the new fest.
'We don't have any plans to change anything in Qumra,' she said. 'We think it's important for it to remain the way it is,' she added, further noting that 'everything we do is part of an eco-system and is connected to the DFI,' Al Remaihi pointed out. At the same time, it appears clear that the new DFI event will indeed have a still-unspecified industry aspect.
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Rahbani's art defies creative perceptions and questions musical canons while his lyrics confront societal norms, all along capturing the pulse of Lebanese life during times of war, instability, change. Revolutionary and boldly visionary, he was also a romantic, with both qualities obvious throughout his creative life. Yet Rahbani was not so much a contradictory man but a deeply complex artist who carried within him a tangle of emotions: love and anger, clarity and confusion, tenderness and rebellion. He didn't resolve these tensions; he lived them, fully and unapologetically, channelling each into his music, theatre, writing. His work became a mirror of his inner world and the world that surrounded him; his creative voice was at times raw, at times refined, but always honest. His softer side shines through many of his songs. Who can find a more haunting and poetic piece than his over six-minute-long, slow-paced ballad Wahdon (On Their Own, 1979)? 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The year of Ila Assi, another album, Bema Enno (Given That) was released, marking a continuation of Rahbani's partnership with Joseph Sakr, which began in the early 1970s through various theatrical productions and musical projects. The 14-track Bema Enno stands as a testament to their creative synergy, blending traditional Arabic rhythms and Lebanese folklore with contemporary sounds. It is yet another work that addresses struggles of identity, belonging and existential reflection, embedded in a mix of irony, melancholy and resilience. In his career, Rahbani embarked on several collaborations, with one of the most interesting being that with Lebanese vocalist Salma Al-Mosfi — resulting in Monodose, a 2001 album he produced. While the album marked a significant moment in Al-Mosfi's career, Rahbani poured his many influences into it. The 11-track work draws inspiration from French chanson and classic bossa nova, set within a mix of jazz and Arabic influences. Un verre chez nous (A Drink at Our Place), and Mish Bass Talfinly (It's Not Enough to Just Call Me) are undeniably the album's highlights, with the first being a French chanson toying with relaxed groove, the latter embedded in bossa nova. He paid another powerful tribute to his mother with Eh Fi Amal (Yes, There Is Hope, 2010), Fairuz's 99th studio album. Receiving both critical acclaim and commercial success, the album became especially important for both artists. With this work, the Lebanese icon reaffirmed her status as a musical legend, while for Rahbani, it highlighted the significance of his collaboration with his mother. It is a work that echoes themes of family, memory and personal history, beautifully capturing their intertwined lives. Though in recent years Rahbani stepped out of the public spotlight for the most part, whenever he reappeared at occasional performances on regional stages, curated jazz sessions and festivals (including in Egypt), he always mesmerised his listeners. Ziad Rahbani was a man wholly consumed by his passion for art. His sharp satire often made audiences laugh, his music soothed listeners while awakening their souls. To him laughter was a form of survival, but never an escape. His music was an extension of his being human. Whether navigating writing, composing, arrangements or theatre, there was one thing at his core: He lived through creation. Maybe like Beckett's Vladimir and Estragon, Rahbani quietly hoped for Godot to arrive, for the meaning, and while doing so, he left behind a legacy of profound awareness translated into art. Rahbani's influence runs deep through the work of countless Arab artists who both honour and expand his legacy. From Lebanese musicians like Mashrou' Leila, Yasmine Hamdan, Tania Saleh and Zeid Hamdan, to theatre-makers such as Rabih Mroué — whose work grapples with war, media, and memory — and the politically engaged Zoukak Theatre Company, Rahbani's spirit of artistic defiance and innovation lives on. Equally, it moves beyond Lebanon and enters the souls of artists from Egypt and other Arab countries. As Tania Saleh commented to the media, 'I believe it started with him, because he was already independent — of his family, of the Lebanese music scene, and even of the larger Arab world. His influences came from everywhere. He was a true first.' Rahbani's legacy transcends generations, echoing through today's traditional Arab works, the indie scene, underground hip-hop and theatrical experiments. His music is still performed, his lyrics memorised by heart, his sharp wit and emotional honesty inspiring artists across disciplines. For many, Rahbani remains a blueprint: blending Arabic music and folklore with jazz, political critique with poetic intimacy, and theatre with activism. His body of work is not only culturally essential, it is an open-ended legacy: uncannily relevant and unsettling as well as urgently alive. * A version of this article appears in print in the 6 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
