Doha Tribeca focuses on family-friendly fare

The Doha Tribeca Film Festival, the annual culmination of year-round activities of the Doha Film Institute, will feature plenty of family-friendly fare, fest execs announced this week.

For the fourth year running, the festival will feature Family Days, set this year from Nov. 21 to 24. On the docket of youth-centric programming are family-friendly screenings of films including “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Storm Surfers 3D”; a Sony/51 East Game Lab; roaming musicians and performers; arts and crafts workshops, and more. The DFI Kids Access Program will train and support a team of kid journalists, who will cover the action on and off the Family Days’ red carpet.

In addition to kid-friendly program are seven films that offer insight into the life of children from every corner of the globe.

Jan Xavier Pacle’s “Angel in June,” unspooling in the fest’s Made in Qatar section, is narrated by 13-year-old Angel, while Brahim Fritah’s “Playground Chronicles,” playing in the Arab Film Competition, follows 10-year-old Brahim.

In the Contemporary World Cinema category are four pics with young protagonists: Bosnian Aida Begic’s “Children of Sarajevo,” Romanian Radu Jude’s “Everybody in Our Family,” Chilean Dominga Sotomayor’s “Thursday Till Sunday” and Americans David Siegel and Scott McGehee’s “What Maisie Knew,” based on the Henry James novel.

Rounding out the selections is Iranian helmer Majid Majidi’s classic “Children of Heaven,” slated for the Special Screenings at the fest, which runs Nov. 17-24.