‘Sleepless City’, ‘My Father and Qaddafi’ & ‘Fahad the Furious’ Clinch Top Awards At Doha Film Festival As First Edition Metes Out $300,000 In Prize Money

Spanish director Guillermo Galoe’s Sleepless City won the top $75,000 Best Narrative prize at the Doha Film Festival which brought its inaugural edition to a close on Friday.

Galoe’s first feature, Sleepless City is a hybrid work shot in the Spanish shanty town of La Cañada Real on the outskirts of Madrid, which is regarded as Europe’s largest illegal settlement, with the support of its residents.

It revolves around a teenage Roma boy whose way of life is threatened by moves to demolish the family scrapyard.  

Oscar-nominated documentarian Rithy Panh led the jury, which also featured director and screenwriter Raja Amari, actor and filmmaker Dhafer L’Abidine, photographer Brigitte Lacombe and Founder and Curator of Final Cut Venice Alessandra Speciale

In further prizes, Jihan’s My Father and Qaddafi won Best Documentary; Majd Eid and Nader Abd Alhay shared the Best Performance Award for their roles in Once Upon A Time In Gaza, while the Best Artistic Achievement prize went ex-aequo to Kamal Al Jafari for With Hasan in Gaza and Chie Hayakawa for Renoir.

In other strands, Leonardo Martinelli’s Samba Infinito won best film in the International Short Film Competition strand.

The film, about a street cleaner struggling with personal loss during Rio’s Carnival who tries to help a lost child, premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in May.

In the Made in Qatar Competition, locally-based producer and filmmaker Justin Kramer’s Fahad the Furious won best film, while its star Rashid Al Sheeb, clinched the Abdulaziz Jassim Award for Performance.

The Ajyal Film Competition, featuring a youth jury aged 16 to 25, awarded its Best Feature prize to Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab.

The drama, about the killing of a six-year-old Hind Rajab in early 2024 in Gaza by Israeli fire, opened the festival with an emotional screening introduced by the girl’s mother.

The inaugural edition of festival, spearheaded by the Doha Film Institute, showcased 97 films from 62 countries, screened across four competitive sections as well as a gala strand.

The event got off with a bang on its first weekend with the first-ever Industry Days event at which Qatar’s Film Committee announced a raft of high-profile partnerships with Neon, Sony, Department M, Miramax and Company 3 as well as 50% film rebate offer and the upcoming shoot of Barbara Broccoli-produced Othello.

Festival Director and CEO of DFI Fatma Hassan Alremaihi said the festival’s inaugural edition confirmed the organisation’s commitment to championing news voices and stories that are rarely told on screen.

“This festival is a promise that creativity will always have a space, that diverse voices will always be heard, and that Qatar will continue to open its doors to artists shaping a connected and compassionate world,” she said.

“Every story shared here has reminded us that film is one of humanity’s greatest bridges connecting us beyond borders, backgrounds and differences to push our collective vision forward.”

Full-list of winners:

International Feature Film Competition:

International Short Film Competition:

Made in Qatar Competition:

Ajyal Film Competition:

Audience Award: