It was another amazing day of screenings and events yesterday. When audiences weren’t going crazy for musical romance, they were hiding their eyes to escape the gory doings of the evil undead. Bollywood went over a treat, with our panel of guests discussing the future of Indian cinema, a special tribute to the late Yash Chopra followed by his final film offering, ‘Till I Breathe This Life’ and a Bollywood-themed party for Festival guests.

Audiences were white-faced and trembling as they left the screening of Qatar’s first zombie movie, ‘Lockdown: Red Moon Escape’. Not sure any of them managed to get any sleep – no doubt they were busy locking the doors and barring the windows to protect themselves from the slimy creatures who were dragging themselves from the desert to downtown Doha.

Some big-name films were up onscreen and were extremely well received – Matteo Garrone’s ‘Reality’ – a hit at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and a very dark and clever take on our contemporary obsession with the trappings of celebrity and fame – features brilliant performances and a zany story. It screens again on Friday, 23 November at 9:30 PM at the DFI Cinema at the Museum of Islamic Art. Martin McDonagh’s ‘Seven Psychopaths’ had its first screening last night – the house was packed and audiences were rolling in the aisles at excellent performances from Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken as the standard tropes of Hollywood psycho-killer movie were hilariously skewered. Catch it if you can on Saturday, 24 November at 10:00 PM at the Katara Drama Theatre.

‘Fidaï’, Damian Ounouri’s intimate and revealing look at his Great-Uncle El Hadi’s role as a freedom fighter during the Algerian War, had its final screening yesterday. The director was on hand for 45 minutes of Q&A time – a real film-festival moment! Be sure to look for this film if you missed it at DTFF – it’s a real eye-opener and an incredible experience. If you did catch it, we highly recommend that you get out to Thursday’s free screening of Gillo Pontecorvo’s masterpiece, ‘The Battle of Algiers’, at the Sony Open-Air Cinema on the esplanade at Katara – the two make great companion pieces.