E.T. lived up to his reputation last night – it seemed like half of Doha was at the Cinema Under the Stars at our 30th anniversary screening of Steven Spielberg’s ‘E.T. the Extraterrestrial’ at the Sony Open-Air Cinema on the esplanade at Katara. So great to see so many people, young and old, reliving old memories or experiencing this charming classic for the first time. Hope everyone makes it out again tonight to experience another classic – ‘Cinema Paradiso’ shows at the same venue at 8:00 PM.

The Doha-Giffoni Experience – which invites 200 youngsters to workshops and screenings where they learn some very useful skills of film analysis, about how films are made and get hands-on experience in creating documentary film – was well underway yesterday. Kids were watching, writing and learning all day – all hoping they might get invited to the Giffoni Film Festival next year. DFI and Giffoni are proud to be working together for a second year to encourage young people to gain valuable media literacy skills.

The people had their say yesterday, when the Audience Awards for narrative and documentary film were announced. The narrative pick is ‘Full Circle’, a hilarious and touching tale of a group of septuagenarians who enter a talent show against all odds – see it today at at 5:15 PM at Katara 12. Or at 6:30 PM at the DFI Cinema at MIA. ‘Searching for Sugar Man’, the audience’s doc pick, is the amazing story of Rodriguez, a 70s US musician whose work rose from the ashes of a crash-and-burn career, making him a cult figure in South Africa – head to Katara 12 at 8:30 PM.