Your weekend beach experience will be quite different.

The Doha Film Institute’s (DFI) “Cinema by the Sea” programme will kick off on Friday at the West Bay Beach, gathering film and beach enthusiasts in one place.

The family-friendly experience offers locally-produced and international films for all to enjoy between 28 April and 12 May at 7:00pm. The tickets, which can be purchased at the door, cost QAR 30 for adults and are free for children under the age of 12.

The event will start off with “Rio” by Carlos Saldanha, which focuses on the story of a macaw named Blu who learns how to fly away from captivity by animal smugglers.

Then on 5 May, numerous Qatar productions will be featured, including  Emsahar by Hassan Al-Jahni, Hope by Abdulla Al-Janahi, Yahoota by Latifa Al-Darwish, Khurshid by Mazen Shafea, and  Al-Johara by Nora Al-Subai.

The event will close off with Hayao Miyazaki’s 2008 production, “Ponyo”, a film that centers on Sosuke, a little boy who became a friend of a goldfish princess that he named “Ponyo”.

Life in the little boy’s village shifts when Sosuke’s father returns Ponyo to her place of origin after wanting to become human and live on the surface.