Community screenings at Doha Film Festival 2026

Detailed summary

Doha Film Festival (DFF), presented by Doha Film Institute (DFI), is expanding the magical power of movies with a specially curated ...

Doha, Qatar: Doha Film Festival (DFF), presented by Doha Film Institute (DFI), is expanding the magical power of movies with a specially curated programme designed to celebrate film heritage and make the cinema experience more accessible for audiences of all ages and abilities.

A major highlight this year is the launch of DFF Classics, a new programme celebrating the enduring artistic and culturally significant cinema with landmark films restored in partnership with the World Cinema Foundation and Doha Film Institute. The initiative brings restored historically important films back to the big screen to share with contemporary audiences cinematic treasures that have shaped world cinema.

The first edition of the programme features the acclaimed The Battle of Algiers (1966) by Gillo Pontecorvo, which won Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and Shadi Abdel Salam’s The Night of Counting the Years (1969), widely regarded as a defining work of Egyptian and Arab cinema.

Screening with audio description, sign-language interpretation and enhanced subtitles, DFF’s Inclusive Screening, presented in partnership with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and with support of Katara Studios features Hassan Hadi’s acclaimed film The President’s Cake, as part of the Institute’s commitment to making cinema accessible to audiences of all abilities.

From left: The Battle of Algiers (Italy/Algeria) by Gillo Pontecorvo and The Night of Counting the Years (Egypt) by Shadi Abdel Salam

The Battle of Algiers (Italy/Algeria) by Gillo Pontecorvo Gillo Pontecorvo’s landmark, Golden Lion-winner chronicles the Algerian struggle for independence from French colonial rule through the experiences of revolutionaries and the forces sent to suppress them.

The Night of Counting the Years (Egypt) by Shadi Abdel Salam When a young man discovers that his community has been secretly trading ancient Egyptian treasures for generations, he faces a profound dilemma between…

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