The Yemeni film The Station will open the next edition of the Doha Film Festival, taking place in the Qatari capital from 19 to 27 November 2026, marking its Middle East and North Africa premiere. The film is the first feature-length fiction work by Yemeni-Scottish director Sara Ishaq, according to an announcement by the Doha Film Institute.
Yemeni women facing the consequences of war
The film addresses family, solidarity and resilience in the face of the consequences of war through a group of Yemeni women brought together by a petrol station reserved for them. As events unfold, the station becomes a rare space for meeting and conversation, and a temporary refuge surrounded by the circumstances and turmoil imposed by the war. The story centres on Layal, who faces a crisis threatening her younger brother after he comes under the risk of recruitment.
Her attempt to save him drives her to search for her estranged sister, on a journey in which family ties intersect with the effects of war and the characters’ choices in confronting them. Sara Ishaq co-wrote The Station with Nadia Aliwat.
The Station cast and the Doha Film Institute’s praise
The leading cast includes Manal Al-Maliki, Abeer Mohammed, Rashad Khaled, Saleh Al-Murshidi, Farihah Hassan, Randa Mohammed, Fatima Muthanna, Amal Ismail and Shorouq Mohammed. Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi, chief executive of the Doha Film Institute and director of the Doha Film Festival, praised the film’s selection to open the next edition.
In a press statement, she said the film presents a distinctly Yemeni story that also carries human dimensions capable of reaching an audience beyond the geographical boundaries in which the events unfold. Al Remaihi added that Sara Ishaq’s work begins with a highly distinctive local reality, but uses it to invite reflection on broader human issues.
Sara Ishaq and Nadia Aliwat on the film’s message
She said presenting The Station as the festival’s opening film was an invitation to dialogue and to discovering different experiences through cinema. Sara Ishaq, for her part, explained that the film is connected to Yemen and that its world brings together aspects of the country to which she belongs within a space that appears to be a fragile refuge isolated from the surrounding turmoil.
She stressed that the film does not focus solely on the circumstances of war, but views its characters from multiple angles, with all their human contradictions and complexities, describing it as a tribute to Yemenis who faced years of war with resilience and dignity. The film’s producer, Nadia Aliwat, in turn, underlined the importance of supporting films and voices from the region, particularly in light of the circumstances it is experiencing.
She said The Station reflects the meaning of solidarity, pointing to the role played by the Doha Film Institute in the project’s journey from its production stages onwards. The film had received support from the Doha Film Institute’s grants programme as part of the institute’s efforts to support filmmaking talent in the region and help its work reach a wider audience.
The Station later won five awards in the Final Cut section at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, including the Biennale di Venezia award for best film in post-production.
It then had its world premiere in May 2026 in the official competition of Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival.
