James Gray's 'Paper Tiger' Leads Doha Film Festival Gala Lineup

James Gray's thriller "Paper Tiger" will screen at the Doha Film Festival, which runs Nov. 19 to 27, as part of a nine-title Gala and Special Screenings lineup announced by the festival on Tuesday.

The selection spans documentaries, family adventure, immersive cinema and a heist thriller, with premieres flagged across the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) and internationally.

What's in the Gala Screenings?

Six films make up the Gala strand:

• "Edward Said: Between Worlds" (U.S./Qatar) — Maiken Baird's documentary, set 23 years after the scholar's death, revisits the untold history of Palestine in Said's own words. Middle East Premiere.
• "Fing!" (Australia/U.K.) — Jeffrey Walker's family adventure about Myrtle Meek, who demands a Fing for her 12th birthday. Nobody knows what a Fing is. International Premiere.
• "Furies" (Lebanon/Brazil) — Rami Kodeih's thriller following Maro, a single mother who, a year after Lebanon's economic collapse, plots an all-night bank heist with her sister to pay for life-saving surgery. MENA Premiere.
• "Paper Tiger" (U.S.) — James Gray's 1980s New York-set thriller about two brothers drawn into the Russian mafia while chasing the American Dream. MENA Premiere.
• "Red Rocks" (Portugal/France/Italy/Spain/Qatar) — Bruno Dumont's tale of rival gangs of children and cliff-jumping competitions on the French Riviera. MENA Premiere.

The Gray film carries the marquee weight here. A MENA premiere for a New York auteur is a statement of intent.

What are the Special Screenings?

Four films fill the special strand:

• "Artou" (France/Mauritania/Luxembourg/Qatar) — Abderrahmane Sissako's first 360° immersive film, following six siblings journeying from Europe to Mauritania to bury their father beside his own. Middle East Premiere.
• "Life Support" (U.K./Qatar) — Daniele Rugo's documentary, set in Gaza after October 2023, about international medical volunteers. Much of it was filmed on the doctors' phones. MENA Premiere.
• "The Roses of Marrakech" (Italy) — Ginevra Elkann's drama about Leila, a housekeeper whose buried past resurfaces when her sister arrives unexpectedly. Middle East Premiere.
• "52 Blue" (India/Egypt/U.S.) — Ali El Arabi's debut feature, a coming-of-age drama about Ashish, a reclusive young man from rural Kerala who takes a stadium job to meet Lionel Messi at the World Cup in Qatar. MENA Premiere.

What did the festival say?

Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of Doha Film Institute and director of Doha Film Festival, said: "Our Gala and Special Screenings will bring audiences together through films that move, surprise, and spark conversation. From gripping dramas and timely documentaries to stories filled with humor, adventure and discovery, the selection celebrates the courage to question what we take for granted and find dignity and truth in the complexity of human experience. Audiences will leave the cinema with new perspectives, questions to reflect on, and stories that stay with them long after the final frame."

That's a long sentence for a festival brochure. The programming backs it up.

Who funded the films?

Three of the nine selections — "Paper Tiger," "Furies" and "Artou" — received support from the Film Committee at Media City Qatar. The festival frames this as evidence of the country's burgeoning film industry reaching international productions, not just local ones.

With Gray, Dumont and Sissako all premiering in Doha between Nov. 19 and 27, the festival has positioned itself as a serious stop on the MENA circuit.