About the Festival
Doha, Qatar – The European Drive-In Film Festival, a drive-in cinema experience, took place between November 26 to 28 at Doha Festival City.
With an aim to promote cultural togetherness and lift community spirits despite the difficult times that people are going through, the festival showcased foreign language films. The films, which had English subtitles, were chosen specifically by the Embassies of Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.
We would like to thank you for your participation & support in the first-of-its-kind European Drive-in Film Festival!
European Drive-in Film Festival
An first-of-its-kind festival experience in Qatar straight out of the 1950’s, guests can drive to, park up, and watch the movie in an outdoor venue with a large screen. Open to all residents and citizens of Qatar, the festival will provide a safe cinematic experience as all precautionary health and safety including social distancing measures will be adhered to. Each day will host three screenings.
Snack Freedom
Guests can bring their own snacks during the movie and can also order from food and beverage outlets from Doha Festival City. The orders will be delivered to guests in their cars by our exclusive partner E-butler.
Tickets are free
The tickets will be free-of-cost and on a first come first serve basis and guests can buy their tickets online with our booking tool starting Nov 15 onwards.
Program & Movies
Movie Details and Timings
The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
Sweden | Runtime: 114 mins
Screening Schedule
Thursday, November 26, 2020 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Storyline
After living a long life, Allan Karlsson finds himself stuck in a nursing home. On his 100th birthday, he leaps out a window and begins an unexpected journey. Based on the internationally best-selling novel by Jonas Jonasson, the unlikely story of a 100-year-old man who decides it's not too late to start over. For most people it would be the adventure of a lifetime, but Allan Karlsson's unexpected journey is not his first. For a century he's made the world uncertain, and now he is on the loose again.
WATCH TRAILERBrothers of the Wind
Austria | Runtime: 98 mins
Screening Schedule
Thursday, November 26, 2020 | 8:00pm - 9:55pm
Storyline
In a world where it takes courage to fly, a young boy nurtures a baby eagle into adulthood. Searching for their place in the world, they bond over their desire to be free. As grief distances a son from his father, he forms a bond with an injured baby eagle that he tries to save with the aid of a forester in the Alps.
WATCH TRAILERLes Chevaliers Blancs (The White Knights)
Belgium | Runtime: 112 mins
Screening Schedule
Thursday, November 26, 2020 | 10:25pm - 12:05am
Storyline
A NGO is planning to exfiltrate 300 orphans victims of Chadian civil war and bring them to French adoption applicants. Immersed in the brutal reality of a country at war, the NGO members are faced with the limits of humanitarian intervention. At the head of his NGO Move For Kids, Jacques Arnault pulls some humanitarian workers in a country of Africa "to take in" orphan children. The operation is transformed in a panic.
WATCH TRAILERQuanto Basta (As Needed)
Italy | Runtime: 92 mins
Screening Schedule
Friday, November 27, 2020 | 5:00pm - 6:40pm
Storyline
A well-known chef who has been in prison for anger issues, and who has met a young student with Aspergers while doing his community service sentence, teams up with the teen for a culinary competition. Bit by bit, though, their conflictual relationship will turn into a friendship that will make both of them question their prejudices and that will lead Arturo toward new personal and professional choices. And it will be the right at the end of the show, during the final competition, that the true winners and losers will be decided.
WATCH TRAILERA Mae E Que Sabe (Mother Knows Best)
Portugal | Runtime: 88 mins
Screening Schedule
Friday, November 27, 2020 | 7:25pm - 8:55pm
Storyline
Ana Lusa's family meet at home to celebrate her father's birthday. As the guests sit around the table, they share memories with a common denominator: the late Josefa, Ana Luisa's mother. When listening to the stories, Ana Lusa realizes the impact that the deceased mother had on her life choices and imagines what would have happened had she followed other paths, taken other options and said what remained to be said. At the same time, an astrophysical event of unknown origin causes the change of space-time, allowing some people, all over the world, to access parallel universes. Ana Luisa is one of them, and will thus have the opportunity to change the past. But for this you will have to give up all of your present.
WATCH TRAILERGundermann
Germany | Runtime: 128 mins
Screening Schedule
Friday, November 27, 2020 | 9:40pm - 11:50pm
Storyline
The movie deals with the real life story of East German singer and writer Gerhard Gundermann and his struggles with music, life as a coal miner and his dealings with the secret police (STASI) of the DDR. He wants to be a good worker, a great husband, a caring father, an artist, a clown, a politician - he is everything at the same time. Gerhard Gundermann is hero and anti-hero, a constant contradiction, a glittering figure typical of the former East-Germany - and again not. People like him are everywhere. And they offend everywhere.
WATCH TRAILERApollon de Gaza (The Apollo of Gaza)
Switzerland | Runtime: 79 mins
Screening Schedule
Saturday, November 28, 2020 | 5:00pm - 6:20pm
Storyline
In summer 2013, a statue of Apollo more than 2500 years old is discovered in the nets of a fisherman from Gaza. Then, the statue vanishes, opening all sorts of speculations: hidden in a tunnel, hostage of armed groups, destroyed by fundamentalists or resold to international traffickers of art. Proven or fantasized, the wildest assumptions circulate about the statue. It is like a symbol of what this region of the world means in everybody's imagination. God of the Arts and Poetry, but also of the Oracles and the Divinations, who would know better than the Apollo to put his witty and elevated look on this part of the world prey to the madness of the Men?
WATCH TRAILERAchtste Groepers Huilen Niet (Cool Kids Don't Cry)
The Netherlands | Runtime: 96 mins
Screening Schedule
Saturday, November 28, 2020 | 7:05pm - 8:45pm
Storyline
Adaptation of one of The Netherlands most famous childrens novels. Gutsy middle school student Akkie loves soccer. When Akkie is diagnosed with leukemia, she has to fight for her life. As Akkie grows weaker she also grows closer to the boy she has liked all along. Akkie loves soccer and acts like a bully, then she gets leukemia and has to fight for her life. She lets love into her life and gets the courage to accept whatever comes.
WATCH TRAILERPo Strnisti Bos (Barefoot)
Czechia | Runtime: 111 mins
Screening Schedule
Saturday, November 28, 2020 | 9:30pm - 11:25pm
Storyline
The bitter comedy by the Oscar awarded director Jan Sverak follows the young boy Eda Soucek and his extended family during World War II. He and his parents have to move from the Capital (Prague) to his family´s home in the countryside, because Eda´s father refuses to heil (Nazi salutation) in his job. Eda makes new friends and gets used to life in the village. He also meets his uncle who is known as Vlk (Wolf). Vlk doesn´t get along with the rest of the family. Eda eventually befriends Vlk. Life in the village is influenced by the war.
WATCH TRAILEREvent Venue
Doha Festival City is Qatar’s preferred destination for shopping, entertainment, and dining. Bringing several firsts to Doha, this incomparable mall –is one of the largest such developments in the Middle East, offering almost a quarter of a million sqm of leasable space, providing something for everyone, and creating exceptional and memorable experiences with each and every visit.
Doha Festival City is home to famous brand names in retail, many of which have made their Qatar debut; including Harvey Nichols, Charlotte Tilbury, Kiehl’s, Dior Beauty Boutique, and ACE. It also houses the country’s only IKEA which has been open since 2013. There are over 100 places to dine and relax including restaurants, cafés and casual dining outlets, from brands that are unique to Qatar including Jamie’s Italian, Café Coco, 800 Degrees and Aimee’s Cafe.
Doha Festival City has the country’s biggest world-class entertainment offering including a unique mix of indoor and outdoor attractions–from Qatar’s first VOX 4D cinema complex with 18 digital screens Theatre by Rhodes, to green spaces for outdoor exercise and Outdoor Leisure Trail cycling and four unique entertainment parks, including Angry Birds World, Snow Dunes, and Virtuocity.
Visit Doha Festival City’s official website for more information about the shopping & entertainment destination: https://www.dohafestivalcity.com