Qatar’s Doha Film Festival (DFF) has unveiled the International Feature Film Competition lineup for its second edition which is due to take place this November.

The fifteen titles include Hosam Abu Dan’s Gaza-shot drama Thirteen in Gaza, a coming-of-age drama about a motherless thirteen-year-old living with her father in a Gaza displacement camp without privacy or protection. It won the NETPAC Award in Toronto in September.

It is among four Palestinian films in competition alongside Muayad Alayan’s Venice–selected Conversation with the Sea about a Palestinian man caught in the crosshairs of Israeli bureaucracy over a social security debt for his son who drowned in the Red Sea some two decades previously.

They also include Rabab Khamis’ documentary Sama, which will world premiere in the festival. It revolves around a ten-year-old girl who collects plastic and cardboard in Deir al-Balah in Gaza to sell as fuel and help sustain her family.

Mohanad Yaqubi’s Revolutionaries Never Die, taking its cue from 113 reels of films preserved by Lebanese filmmaker Jocelyne Saab, will also compete. It won the Special Jury Prize in the Filmmakers of the Present competition at Locarno over the summer.

They are among 11 films in the main competition supported by the Doha Film Institute (DFI), which oversees the festival.

The unveiling of the selection is a sign that the DFI is confident the event will go ahead in spite of regional instability caused by the U.S.-Iran-Israel war.

Qatar is a key mediator in indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran, at the same time as negotiating directly with the latter for a regional non-aggression security framework.

Further titles from the Arab world include Concrete Land by Asmahan Bkerat, following an Afro-Palestinian Bedouin family on the outskirts of Amman as luxury villas close in around them. Filmed over eight years, the filmmaker’s debut feature premiered in the Semaine de la Critique at Locarno.

Moroccan director Tala Hadid will present Bardi, about the centuries-old equestrian tradition of Tbourida, which premiered in the Currents section at the New York Film Festival.

As previously announced Yemeni Scottish director Sara Ishaq’s The Station, set against the backdrop of a women-only petrol station in war-torn Yemen, both opens the festival and competes.

Out of sub-Saharan Africa, Cameroonian director Auguste Bernard Kouemo competes with House of the Wind, which debuted in the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti sidebar winning its Special Jury Prize and the Lion of the Future for a Debut Film.

Also out of the region, is My Semba by Hugo Salvaterra. It follows three orphaned siblings in Luanda who fight for dignity through faith, fury and verse. The film won the Feature Film Competition Award at the International Film Festival Innsbruck.

Asia is represented by Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples to Heaven, about a family which visits nine temples in a single day in the hope of keeping their grandmother alive. The film debuted in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. It went on to win Best Director and Best Actor in the Asian New Talent Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival and is Thailand’s submission for the 99th Academy Awards.

Also out of Asia are Zou Jing Cannes Critics’ Week Fipresci-winner A Girl Unknown, about a girl abandoned at birth who passes between three families, and Rafael Manuel’s Filipiñana about teenage tee-girl at a Manila country club who begins to uncover the violence beneath its manicured lawns.

The latter film won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at Sundance and is Philippines submission for the 99th Academy Awards.

Further contenders include Chilean director Manuela Martelli’s The Meltdown, which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard and is Chile’s 99th Academy Awards entry, and Alessandra Sanguinetti’s The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer, following two cousins on the Argentine Pampas through the photographer’s lens over 25 years. It won the Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present competition at Locarno.

Rounding out the selection is Tin Castle by Alexander Murphy follows an Irish traveller family, two parents and ten children, threatened with eviction as they fight to preserve their way of life in an old caravan.

“This year’s features competition reflects great ambition. The 15 films from across the world are united by the courage, imagination and urgency of their filmmakers. Each has travelled a remarkable journey, and it is deeply meaningful that Doha is a part of that journey, ensuring that these powerful works are seen, shared and remembered,” said Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of Doha Film Institute and Director of DFF.

The competition will feature a jury of five industry experts who select winners in Best Narrative (with prize money of US$75,000), Best Documentary (US$50,000), Best Artistic Achievement for feature narrative or documentary (US$45,000), and Best Performance (US$15,000) categories. A certificate of Special Mention will also be presented to a feature narrative or documentary.

The festival expands on the DFI’s long-running family-focused festival of Ajyal which ran for more than a decade during the same period.

Alongside the DFI, key partners on Doha Film Festival include Katara, Media City Qatar, Film Committee and Visit Qatar.

The festival will unfold from November 19 to 27.

Heavy hang the heads who wear the crowns, and that goes for Skydance Pictures Co-Chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, who’ll be tasked with getting under the hood and tuning up the incoming Warner Bros. theatrical 2027-2029 slates.

The first fire to put out: ensuring that Barbie 2 becomes a reality with its original franchise director Greta Gerwig and leads Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. There are other projects to look at as well, read the Jonah Hill directed reportedly finished comedy The Cut Off which was originally dated against The Odyssey this year and then undated. What’s up with that movie?

One of the next big auteur swings greenlit by the previous regime was director Baz Luhrmann’s next project Jehanne d’Arc. The director is currently waiting on a new draft of the script in hopes of a spring start.

While we’ve told you about the dated titles that Warners is delivering to the new Skydance, some of these are in various forms of production and development, read: the Sept. 8, 2028 dated New Line Weapons prequel, Gladys. That one is awaiting a final draft before attaching a director.

Going back to the desert days of Hollywood, it’s prime for any new administration to go through the previous regimes’ pickings and determine whether there are horses still worth getting behind. This went on when Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy arrived at Warner Bros. in June 2022 (the shot Batgirl was shelved, while WBD CEO David Zaslav wrote down and sold Coyote vs. Acme) and it occurred when Goldberg and Greenstein arrived at Paramount in the late summer of 2025 (read: one of the most prolific projects from the previous Brian Robbins regime which didn’t move to a greenlight was was the R-Rated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Last Ronin. In exchange, a new live-action feature of the sword carrying reptiles is in the works aimed at families).

And despite the recent bomb that is Warners’ $160M Tom Cruise political satire, Digger, Skydance co-CEO David Ellison says he’s not anti-big swing. At Tuesday’s Day One Skydance presser, he reminded everyone that Sinners was his favorite movie from last year.

In addition to franchises, “We’re going to make a complete diverse slate,” asserted Ellison. “One of the things I’m a big believer in is original storytelling.”

“One of the areas to be very cautious about is doing anything that jeopardizes the quality of these pictures, and anything that would jeopardize the quality of the marketing campaigns,” said Ellison, who believes that there’s a way for this two-headed monster of a studio to win, specifically the pro-forma content spend of $30 billion-plus annually, despite the burden of $79B in net debt.

Those are hard numbers for some financial analysts to wrap their heads around, but Ellison and his new co-CEO Ynon Kriez are out to prove to the town that their anomaly of a merger can indeed keep both legacy studios alive and grow product while paying down debt. While co-financing is always a solution, particularly on risky bets, it remains to be seen whether the new Paramount-Warner Bros. sometimes takes the easy way out. How’s that? Rather than risk a $300M feature gamble in production cost and marketing, will they simply accept the stage AGs’ penalties and shell out $30M for any film they’re unable to deliver in a 30-picture slate? It’s a cheaper alternative.

Ellison also underscored yesterday that when he took the reigns of Paramount a year ago, they overdelivered on synergies with $2.7B while doubling the slate to 15 films annually and greenlighting four new series.

For the many who feared the consolidation of the two historic studios, what should come as some balm is that with Warner Bros operating separately from Paramount Pictures under Jesse Ehrman and Mike Ireland, the two studios will respectively be able to compete against each other on projects.

“But there will be coordination,” emphasized Kriez in that regard.

He expounded, “The plan is to keep the studios independent creatively, so that each will have its own slate, its own relationship, same opportunities, and then we will choreograph the release schedule, and optimize it by genre and by audience demographic to achieve the best for the company as a whole.”

While we’ve told you what has been dated before, below is a sampling based on our previous reports of the kit and caboodle that’s coming Goldberg and Greenstein’s way. We’ve sussed what is ready and real on the 2027 and 2028 slates. Excluded from this list are myriad lit acquisitions made during the previous De Luca and Abdy regime.

PRIORITY
Barbie 2
Ideally Greta Gerwig return to direct and co write with Noah Baumbach and Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling returning to star in a sequel to Warner Bros’ highest grossing movie ever at $1.44B.

FINISHED (or nearing finish for release).

Clayface (Oct. 23) (DC)

The Cat in the Hat (Nov. 6)

Cut Off
Jonah Hill directed comedy which he stars in with Kristin Wiig

Dune: Part Three (Dec. 18)

Animal Friends (Jan. 22, 2027)

Remain (Feb. 5, 2027)
M. Night Shyamalan just screened at BeyondFest.

Panic Carefully (April 9, 2027)

F.A.S.T (May 14, 2027)

POST-PRODUCTION

The Revenge of La Llorona (Feb. 27, 2027)

Godzilla x Kong: Supernova (March 26, 2027)

Bad Fairies (May 21, 2027)

Man of Tomorrow (July 9, 2027)
-James Gunn’s sequel to Superman.

A Minecraft Movie Squared (July 23, 2027)
Jared Hess returns to direct.

Shiver (Aug. 13)

The Conjuring: First Communion (Sept. 10, 2027)

The Great Beyond (Oct. 1, 2027)
-J.J. Abrams’ Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega original sci-fi film.

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (Dec. 17, 2027 release)
-Directed by Andy Serkis off a screenplay by Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Phoebe Gittens and Arty Papageorgiou.

Evil Dead Wrath (April 7, 2028)

IN PRODUCTION

Untitled Ocean’s Prequel (June 25, 2027)
-Bradley Cooper co-wrote, directs, produces and stars alongside Margot Robbie, who produces via LuckyChap.

Margie Claus (Nov. 12, 2027)

Untitled Nancy Meyers Movie (Dec. 25, 2027)
-Nancy Meyers directing from her own script
-Owen Wilson, Jude Law, Kieran Culkin and Erin Doherty star

The Batman Part II (Feb. 18, 2028) (DC)
Matt Reeves directed production is paused.

The Lunar Chronicles (Nov. 3, 2028)
animated

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (May 17, 2028)
Jon Chu’s animated feature take of the classic Dr. Seuss children’s book.

Hello Kitty (July 21, 2028)
animated

Dynamic Duo (Sept. 22, 2028) (DC)
animation with puppets

PRE-PRODUCTION

Final Destination 7 (New Line) (May 12, 2028)
Michael Blanchart directing.

–Nasty (Clockwork)
Mary Bronstein directed Jenna Ortega and Rose Byrne off Isabella Jarosz screenplay. LuckyChap producing.

Sean Baker’s Ti Amo! (Clockwork)

Jehanne d’Arc (Nov. 22, 2028)
-Baz Luhrmann directing
-Schuyler Weiss and Catherine Martin producing. Currently awaiting next draft.

GREENLIT
By previous administration

Gremlins 3 (Oct. 6, 2028)
Chris Columbus directing. Awaiting rewrites.

The Jetsons Live-Action Movie
-Jim Carrey starring
-Colin Trevorrow attached to direct

Sean Penn’s Untitled January 6th Movie (Clockwork)
-Penn writing, directing and producing
-Bradley Cooper to star

The Brigands of Rattle Creek (Clockwork)
Park Chan-Wook domestic acquisition

GREENLIGHT CANDIDATES (or nearing):

The Flood (Aug. 2028)
Zach Cregger’s next movie with New Line starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Gladys (Weapons prequel set for Sept. 8, 2028)
In rewrites

Matrix 5 – Drew Goddard writing. (a 2029 release candidate)

DEVELOPMENT

Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman Reimagining
-Tim Burton directing

Blow Up the Chat
– Temple Hill producing

Care Bears
-Josh Greenbaum directing
-Good Fear, GoldDay producing

City of Angels Reboot
-Ashley Avis writing and directing
-Atlas Entertainment, Perez Pictures producing

Constantine 2

The Executioner
-Peter Safran producing

Forbidden Planet
-Emma Watts producing

Frank Bullitt Movie
-Steven Spielberg directing

Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest (June 1, 2029)

The Goonies 2
-Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Holly Bario and Chris Columbus producing

Live-Action Hot Wheels Movie
– Bad Robot and Jon M. Chu’s Electric Somewhere producing
Last Friday
– Ice Cube starring

Meerkat Manor (Warner Bros. Pictures Animation)
– The Green Room producing

Shibumi
-87North producing

Space Invaders (New Line)
– Weed Road Pictures, Safehouse Pictures producing

Them! Remake
-Michael Giacchino directing

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Batman Brave and the Bold (DC)

Crazy Rich Asians 2

Savage Hunters aka Deathstroke & Bane Movie (DC)

Live-Action Flintstones reboot
-Ryan Gosling’s Open Invite producing

Free Willy Reimagining
-AGBO producing

Get Smart Reboot
-John Mulaney to star
– Charles Roven and Andrew Lazar producing

The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past
– Stephen Colbert, Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee writing

Prehistoria (Warner Bros. Pictures Animation)
– Vivienne Medrano writing and directing

Powerpuff Girls

Live-Action Teen Titans (DC)

Swamp Thing (DC)

Wonder Woman reboot (DC)