‘Sleepless City’, ‘My Father And Qaddafi’ Take Top Awards At First Doha Film Festival

Guillermo Galoe’s Sleepless City was awarded best narrative film at the first Doha Film Festival (November 20-28), while Jihan’s My Father And Qaddafi was awarded best documentary. In total, the festival handed out prizes totalling more than $300,000 across its four competition sections.

Sleepless City, a France-Spain co-production filmed in the Canada Real shanty town near Madrid, premiered in Critics Week at this year’s Cannes film festival. In My Father And Qaddafi, filmmaker Jihan pieces together the life of her father, a Libyan human rights lawyer, who disappeared when she was a child.

The Best Artistic Achievement award was shared by Kamal Al Jafari for With Hasan In Gaza and Japan’s Chie Hayakawa for Renoir. Majd Eid and Nader Abd Alhay were jointly awarded Best Performance for their work in Once Upon A Time In Gaza. The jury also gave a Special Mention to environmental drama The Reserve, directed by Mexico's Pablo Pérez Lombardini.

The international feature competition jury was headed by Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh and also included Tunisian director and screenwriter Raja Amari, Tunisian actor and filmmaker Dhafer L’Abidine, photographer Brigitte Lacombe and Final Cut Venice founder and curator Alessandra Speciale.

In other sections, Best Film in the International Shorts Competition went to Leonardo Martinelli for Samba Infinito, about a street cleaner struggling with personal loss during Rio’s Carnival who tries to help a lost child.

Justin Kramer’s Fahad The Furious took Best Film in the Made In Qatar section, a selection of ten short films from Qatari and Qatar-based filmmakers. Fahad The Furious also won the Abdulaziz Jassim Award for Performance for Rashid Al Sheeb.

Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice Of Hind Rajab, which played as the opening film of the festival, was awarded Best Feature in the Ajyal Film Competition, selected by a youth jury aged 16-25 from all across the world. Cotton Queen, from Sudanese filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani, won the Audience Award.

DOHA FILM FESTIVAL 2025 AWARDS: 

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM COMPETITION:

Best Narrative: Sleepless City, dir: Guillermo Galoe

Best Documentary: My Father And Qaddafi, dir: Jihan

Best Artistic Achievement: Kamal Al Jafari, With Hasan In Gaza, and Chie Hayakawa, Renoir

Best Performance Award: Majd Eid & Nader Abd Alhay, Once Upon A Time In Gaza

Special Mention: The Reserve, dir: Pablo Pérez Lombardini

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION:

Best Film: Samba Infinito, Leonardo Martinelli

Best Director: Aria Sánchez & Marina Meira, Primary Education

Best Performance: Milica Janevski, Upon Sunrise

Special Mention for Performance: Ammar Ahmed, Zizou

Special Mention: L’Mina, Randa Maaroufi

MADE IN QATAR COMPETITION:

Best Film: Fahad The Furious, dir: Justin Kramer

Best Director: Eiman Mirghani, Villa 187

Abdulaziz Jassim Award for Performance: Rashid Al Sheeb, Fahad The Furious

Special Mention: Project Aisha, Fahad Al-Nahdi

AJYAL FILM COMPETITION:

Best Feature: The Voice Of Hind Rajab, dir: Kaouther Ben Hania

Best Short: Sulaimani, dir: Vinnie Ann Bose

AUDIENCE AWARD: Cotton Queen, dir: Suzannah Mirghani