'Casablanca' hits Qatar big screen

AFP/Doha

Qatar is set to publicly screen the classic Hollywood movie "Casablanca" for the first time later this month.

Time may have gone by since the film's release -- 73 years to be precise -- but the iconic World War II love story starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman will belatedly receive its Qatar premiere on February 28.

It will be shown as part of a season organised by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) celebrating Academy Award winning movies, to coincide with this year's Oscars ceremony.

The film is one of the most celebrated of all time and won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1944 as well as Best Screenplay.

The movie has also become famous for its theme song, "As Time Goes By", and memorable lines including "Here's looking at you, kid" and "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine".

But despite being considered one of the greatest movies ever made, and with Qatar's cinema-going audience largely made up of expatriates, the film has somehow managed to avoid being shown in the Gulf country.

The DFI believes it may never have been shown as cinemas in the Gulf are more intent on showing modern Hollywood blockbusters.

Although Qatar does not have an extensive film history, foreign movies have been shown in the country since 1970.

The DFI has been running since 2010 and also stages the annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival, which shows international and Arab films. 

"It is part of our role as a film institute to provide access to significant films from the cinematic canon," said Chadi Zeneddine, Programmer and Resident Filmmaker of the DFI, told AFP.

"Casablanca is an iconic Hollywood classic that is as powerful today as when it was released."