BY KRISTIN MC CRACKEN |
Doha Tribeca Film Festival 2010!
Doha Film Institute announced the lineup for the 2nd Annual Doha TFF, set for October 26-30 in the Qatari capital. Two Arab Film competitions and 4 world premieres!
As announced on Sunday by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) in Qatar, the second annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) will kick off in four weeks, with Rachid Bouchareb’s Outside the Law set for opening night on Tuesday, October 26. DFI also announced several new initiatives for this year’s Fest, including the Arab Film Competition, the Arab Short Film Competition, and the World Panorama section. DTFF is also proud to present four world premieres.
The Doha Tribeca Film Festival, which debuted in the fall of 2009, will expand to five days in 2010. As DFT’s annual celebration of all things film, DTFF is a community-oriented event that showcases the best of Arab and international films, with a full program of Festival activities to engage the community, industry and filmmakers. During the Festival, filmgoers can enjoy panel discussions, informal VIP events, audience-interactive Q&As, and a Family Day with live entertainment. A multimedia exhibit dedicated to cinema figures will soon be unveiled at DTFF’s new hub, Katara, the Cultural Village situated on the eastern coast of Doha.
Left to right: Chadi Zeneddine (DFI Mentor), Amanda Palmer (DFI Executive Director), Scandar Copti (DFI Head of Education & Film Programmer), Maggie Kim (DFI Managing Director), David Kwok (Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) Director of Programming), Genna Terranova (Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) Senior Programmer)
Movie fans not able to make it to Doha are invited to visit DFI’s newly re-imagined and redesigned website, which launched today with exclusive coverage that offers cinema fans an online film festival experience. This multimedia portal, www.dohafilminstitute.com, features streaming video, online education, specialized film programs, filmmaker interviews, Festival reports, photo galleries, and news about the Institute.
Award-winning French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb’s action flick, Outside the Law, stars Jamel Debbouze in a thriller set against the backdrop of the Algerian struggle for independence from France after WWII. At Sunday’s press conference in Doha, Qatar, Bouchareb explained, "I'm deeply honoured and delighted to be opening the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. I look forward to bringing Outside the Law to Middle Eastern audiences and showing them the history of the Algerian struggle for independence.”
He went on to comment on the newly-announced Arab film initiatives: “I fully support DFI's goals towards developing and discovering Arab talent. It is very important for organisations like DFI to exist and to use their resources towards the goal of promoting Arab cinema and filmmaking talent and taking their stories to audiences around the world."
The Closing Night film will be Justin Chadwick’s The First Grader, which stars Naomie Harris and Oliver Litondo in the inspirational story of an elderly farmer in a Kenyan village who enrolls in a local school in an effort to learn to read. Chadwick is delighted his film was chosen: “It is a real honour for our film The First Grader to be selected to screen on the closing night of this wonderful festival. We have all heard how exciting, dynamic and important this festival is, so we are excited and thrilled to be part of this true celebration of film.”
The diverse DTFF 2010 program features works from directors old and new, and includes comedies, epics, biopics, thrillers, docs, and family fair. This year’s slate will be shown in four categories: the Arab Film Competition, World Panorama, Special Screenings and the Arab Short Film Competition. Ten films will take part in the Arab Film Competition, four of which are World Premieres: Grandma, A Thousand Times by Mahmoud Kaabour, Hawi by Ibrahim El Batout, Man Without a Cellphone by Sameh Zoabi and The Mountain by Ghassan Salhab.
This year’s Arab Film Competition jury will award $100,000 each to the Best Arab Film and the Best Arab Filmmaker. Moviegoers will select the winners of the two audience awards: one for Best Narrative Film and one for Best Documentary Film; both of these winners will also receive $100,000. The winning filmmaker in the Best Arab Short Film competition will receive $10,000, bringing the total cash awards to an impressive $410,000.
Programming DTFF 2010 was a collaborative effort between the team of Executive Director of DFI Amanda Palmer—including Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker Scandar Copti and Lebanese programmer Hania Mroue—and the Tribeca triumvirate of Chief Creative Officer Geoffrey Gilmore, David Kwok and Genna Terranova, with a range of international consultants also in the mix.
Launched in 2009, the DTFF reflects a successful cultural partnership between DFI and Tribeca Enterprises: an annual platform that celebrates DFI’s year-round programs and the wonders of film appreciation and entertainment from every corner of the globe. Palmer believes the 2010 program epitomizes the true spirit of the Festival: "Our expanded programming team has had a challenging few months, selecting from hundreds of submissions to present a strong Arab film line up for our first ever juried competition that underscores DFI's commitment to help drive regional talent in cinema and offer Arab filmmakers a platform to showcase their creativity. We are proud that our efforts to stimulate the growth of filmmaking in the region is being met with such enthusiasm and are confident our local and international guests will be able to discover new storytellers and cinematic gems that have the potential to earn global acclaim.”
Palmer continued, "The Festival plays a strategic role in supporting DFI's long term plans to build a sustainable film industry in Qatar. Through our year round education initiatives, we are nurturing the new generation of filmmakers, supporting regional and international film financing, and supporting the new wave in Arab filmmaking. One of our founding objectives has been to encourage regional talent, not only through creative support but financial and production assistance and key industry know-how, helping us achieve our goals to enhance regional infrastructure and promote filmmaking from the Arab world."
Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, concurred: “The range, diversity and quality of this year’s program underscores our mission to showcase the full spectrum of international cinema—from the world’s most esteemed veteran directors to the emerging new class of Arab storytellers. It’s challenging to limit the slate to under 50 films, so this is a very thoughtfully curated lineup.”
“We have received more than 300 submissions from over 50 countries, with many films from the Middle East, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt that offer a unique insight into the region, as perceived by today’s filmmakers,” said Scandar Copti, whose film Ajami was nominated this year for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. “The films in our Arab Film Competition are evocative of the trials, tribulations and bittersweet facets of everyday life in the Arab world. As an Arab filmmaker, I am very proud to welcome four world premieres that will give our international audience an insider’s look at modern realities around the region, and help emerging and established filmmakers get the support they deserve.”
Visit dohafilminstitute.com to browse the entire film programs, but a few highlights include:
Bhutto
Directed by Duane Baughman, Johnny O'Hara (USA, U.K.)
Feature Documentary
Featuring: Sanam Bhutto, Asif Zardari, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Bakthawar Bhutto Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Mark Siegel
Boy
Directed by Taika Waititi (New Zealand)
Feature Narrative
Cast: James Rolleston, Te aho eketone-whitu, Taika Waititi
Budrus
Directed by Julia Bacha (USA, Palestine)
Feature Documentary
Featuring: Ayed Morrar, Iltezam Morrar, Kobi Snitz, Yasmine Levy, Ahmed Awwad, Doron Spielman
Certified Copy (Copie Conforme)
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami (France, Italy)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carriere, Agathe Natanson
Let Me In
Directed by Matt Reeves (U.K., USA)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas, Cara Buono, Chris Browning
Made in Dagenham
Directed by Nigel Cole (U.K.)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James, Rosamund Pike
Meek's Cutoff
Directed by Kelly Reichardt (USA)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson
Miral
Directed by Julian Schnabel (France, U.K.)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Freida Pinto, Hiam Abbass, Willem Dafoe, Vanessa Redgrave, Alexander Siddig, Yasmine Al Massri
My Perestroika
Directed by Robin Hessman (USA, U.K.)
Feature Documentary
Neds
Directed by Peter Mullan (U.K.)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Peter Mullan, Louise Goodall, Marianna Palka, Conor McCarron, Gregg Forrest
Secretariat
Directed by Randall Wallace (USA)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Diane Lane, John Malkovich
Tamara Drewe
Directed by Stephen Frears (U.K.)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper
The Two Escobars
Directed by Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist (USA, Colombia)
Feature Documentary
Featuring: Andrés Escobar, Pablo Escobar, Carlos "Pibe" Valderrama, César Gaviria, Faustino Asprilla, Alias Popeye
A Throw of Dice (Prapancha Pash)
Directed by Franz Osten (India, U.K.)
Feature Narrative
Cast: Seeta Devi, Himansu Rai, Charu Roy, Modhu Bose, Sarada Gupta, Tincory Chakrabarty, Lala Bijoykishen
Waiting for "Superman"
Directed by Davis Guggenheim (USA)
Feature Documentary
Featuring: The Black Family, Geoffrey Canada, The Esparza Family, The Hill Family, George Reeves, Michelle Rhee, Bill Strickland, Randi Weingarten
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