Eight Doha Film Institute-backed films and projects selected for Venice Film Festival 2026

Eight films and projects supported by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) are being featured at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, giving Qatar-backed independent cinema a strong presence at one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious film festivals.

The festival opened on September 2 at the Lido di Venezia and runs until September 12, 2026. Danny Boyle’s Ink was selected as the opening film, while American actor and filmmaker George Clooney received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement during the opening ceremony.

DFI-supported films span four major programmes

The eight DFI-backed selections are spread across Orizzonti, Venice Spotlight, the Venice Gap-Financing Market and Final Cut in Venice.

In the Orizzonti Competition, House of the Wind by Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu is representing a co-production involving Cameroon, France, Belgium, Benin, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The film follows a 75-year-old woman in Yaoundé whose relationship with a neighbour challenges her understanding of family.

Meanwhile, Conversation with the Sea by Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan is being presented in Venice Spotlight.

The film centres on a Palestinian man who is ordered by an Israeli court to pay a social security debt connected to his son, who drowned in the Red Sea more than two decades earlier.

Two projects join the Venice Gap-Financing Market

Two other DFI-supported films have been selected for the Venice Gap-Financing Market, which connects filmmakers with potential financiers and collaborators.

They are:

• Faux Bijoux by Jessy Moussallem
• Wolfmother by Ismaël El Iraki

The market is designed to help projects secure the financing and partnerships needed to move toward completion.

Four DFI projects selected for Final Cut in Venice

Four additional DFI-backed projects are part of Final Cut in Venice, a programme supporting films currently in post-production.

They include:

• A Quarter to Thursday by Sofia Djama
• Eldorado, The Taste of the South by Alaa Eddine Aljem
• Occupational Hazards by Bassel Ghandour
• Plague by Youssef Chebbi

The programme connects filmmakers with international industry professionals and provides a platform for projects nearing completion.

Doha Film Institute expands its global footprint

The eight-film presence reflects DFI’s wider strategy of supporting independent filmmakers at different stages, from development and financing to post-production and international festival exposure.

According to DFI, the institute has now supported more than 1,000 films from over 85 countries.

Gaza documentary also features in main competition

This year’s Venice programme also includes NAZA, an 80-minute documentary directed by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

The film, which is competing in the main Venezia 83 Competition, examines systems behind the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and is scheduled to screen during the festival on September 10 and 11.

With Qatar-backed projects appearing across several sections of the festival, the 2026 Venice selection further strengthens Doha Film Institute’s role in bringing Arab and independent filmmakers to major international platforms.

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