Qatar Stars

Q&A post-screening with director Danielle Beverly in discussion with Dawn Valadez.

Co-presented by BAVC Media and Reel Stories in honor of Women’s History Month. 

Qatar Stars is the first feature documentary about girls in Qatar. Our documentary is a four-year coming of age story set inside a gender self-segregating rhythmic gymnastics school, in the rapidly evolving years leading up to the 2022 FIFA men’s World Cup.

It offers a longitudinal observational story of girlhood in all its joys and growing pains, through intimate access to a multinational, girls-only rhythmic gymnastics school in Doha, led by a former Russian gymnast. Girls from Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Ukraine, and UK grow up onscreen over four years, changing from wiggly nine-year-olds to maturing teens who must navigate the evolving, gendered world around them. The girls experience both triumphs and heartaches, to ultimately form an unbreakable bond. Meanwhile, exacting coach Tatiana undergoes her own unexpected professional and personal transformation that challenges her sense of strength and identity.