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Doha Events 2011

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With The Morning Coffee


Doha Tribeca Film Festival

Glitz, glamour at DTFF finale

By Fazeena Saleem

DOHA: Hawi won the Best Arab Film award at the second Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF), which ended yesterday with a closing night gala and open-air concert at the Cultural Village, Katara.

The closing ceremony began with a red carpet welcome to celebrities, big names from the film industry and a number of guests. The awards ceremony was held at the Katara Opera House, with the event hosted by Ahmed Ahmed adding humour to the glitz and glamour.

Balls won the Best Arab Filmmaker award in recognition for its screenplay. The First Grader and Grandma, A Thousand Times won the Audience Awards for Best Narrative Film and Best Documentary Film, respectively. Sirwar Zirkly’s Missing won the prize for Best Arab Short Film in the Arab Film Competition.

Mahmoud Kaabour, director of Grandma, A Thousand Times also received a Special Jury Mention.

The two Arab film competition winners and Audience Award winners each received $100,000. The five-member DTFF jury was headed by Yosra and its members were Salma Hayek Pinault, Nick Moran, Bhavna Talwar and Danis Tanovic. The jury for the Arab Short Film Competition consisted of filmmakers in the Arab Film Competition.

Meanwhile, DTFF’s partnership with the Giffoni Experience, an international exchange of children’s ideas and film experiences, saw 60 children from Doha and six other children from abroad working as jurors and awarding prizes to two short films, Pictogram Story and Transit.

Pictogram Story is an offbeat animated love story. Transit is the story of a 10-year-old boy who on return from a holiday comes across a strange and desperate man at the airport who changes his life forever.

Tribeca Enterprises cofounders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff , and Chief Creative Officer Geoffrey Gilmore were among those attending the closing night gala.

The five-day festival ended with a screening of The First Grader and an open-air concert by Ragheb Alama screened to thousands in three venues at Katara.

The film festival featured a diverse selection of 51 feature films from the Middle East and 35 countries around the world. The films were screened at theatres and free screenings were held at public places The festival included panel discussions about filmmaking and a Family Day attracted huge crowds.

The curtains came down on the festival with the promise of an even more vibrant event next year.

THE PENINSULA

The First Grader captivates audience

By Fazeena Saleem

DOHA:

 

The First Grader, the story of an inspirational story about a former Mau rebel who enters a Kenyan school to learn to read, became the centre of attraction on the closing night of the second Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF).

The film won the Audience Awards for Best Narrative Film.

“I thank the Doha Doha Tribeca Film Festival for embracing the film,” said Justin Chadwick, the British director of the movie.

Although the arc of the story might be familiar, the setting and characters are fresh. Cultural Village Katara Opera House audiences discovered and embraced the film.

Chadwick and his cast has done an excellent job in making a Kenyan story so clearly tailored to Hollywood specifications.

The First Grader

 

 

The Peninsula

 chronicles the story of a 84-year-old Kenyan villager Kimani Maruge, who made history in 2003 as the oldest person ever to enrol at a children’s school. Wishing to learn to read and write, he accepted an offer by his government. So far, so twinkly, but Maruge’s background lends the film a more sombre palette. In the 1950s, he was a member of the Mau Mau anti-colonial resistance movement, and was beaten and tortured by the British. As such he’s a walking, if creaky, symbol of Kenyan independence.

The film employs a real Kenyan village classroom with five pupils to a desk. Chadwick makes the most of the adorable kids, and also makes Kenya look stunning.

“There was a nerve about the film; we did it in a place where there is no infrastructure. It was a very remote village,” said Chadwick.

He elicits excellent performances from his two leads. Oliver Litondo, a veteran actor with a haunted expression, knows how to dominate the screen, while Naomie Harris is an effective foil as Teacher Jane, a calm, kindly authority figure. Speaking about his experience of portraying Maruge’s story is true find himself more determined after doing the character.

“I found how to be determined to get what we need,” said Litondo. He also remembered his first teachers. “My first teachers were my parents then was my primary teacher Sussie.” He added that there were some changes made to the original script. “Some changes were made to the original script. It had no humor but was added later,” said Litondo.

“The response here was amazing. The film is genuinely touched by the people. We are thinking of taking the film to the actual school,” said Harris.

The film strikes a perfect balance between humor and tragic gravity, and the result is that an unknown story seems certain to stir the hearts of audiences.

All set for a glittering closing ceremony

Doha: Filmmaker Justin Chadwick’s The First Grader, the inspirational story about an elderly farmer’s struggle for an education, will close this year’s Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) at a public and free open air screening at Katara Cultural Village.

The First Grader

 

 

Certified Copy, starring Juliette Binoche and William Shimell; Vibeke L¯kkerberg’s emotionally compelling Tears of Gaza; inspiring Congolese music documentary Benda Bilili!; and Meek’s Cutoff, director Kelly Reichert’s luminous interpretation of the settlement of the American West.

In addition to the final selections of the festival, the well attended Doha Talks series will also conclude with sessions from film legend Robert De Niro (with his Little Fockers session about the global film franchise) and internationally renowned composer and music producer Nitin Sawhney discussing his music and inspiration behind the original score for

 

The Throw of Dice.

THE PENINSULa

will screen Saturday night immediately after the Festival’s closing night awards ceremony where audiences, festival attendees and filmmakers will find out who has won the DTFF’s inaugural Arab competitionñ including awards for best Arab film, best Arab filmmaker, audience awards for best narrative film, best documentary film and best Arab short film.

The festival’s eclectic programme of over 51 films from 35 countries will also see audiences flock to final day screenings of Abbas Kiarostami’s beguiling

 

Family outing at Katara

BY RAYNALD C RIVERA

DOHA: Hundreds of families discovered the wonders of the magnificent Katara (Cultural Village) while they enjoy the various events which are both spectacular and educational during the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) Family Day yesterday.

The event which was free to the public proved DTFF extends its reach beyond celebrating everything about films; it is also a festival that offers many opportunities for the entire family to enjoy especially children.

Ballet, contemporary and folk dances, circus performances, film screenings and musical extravaganza entertained huge crowds at different venues in Katara. Educational institutions, performing arts companies and invited professional performers featured in the shows which amazed visitors of all ages.

The International Academy for Intercultural Development presented ballet, contemporary Indian and Bollywood dance and music while Doha Montessori and British School and the American School of Doha choirs enthralled the audiences who swarmed the Katara Open Theatre and Bay Stage. Internationally renowned Ahmed Ahmed also shared laughter when he featured at the Family Comedy Showcase, while Matt Aitken of famed Avatar movie gave a visual effect s presentation.

Cirque Apeiron’s modern circus performances, soccer juggler, hand vaultage and adagio dance including presentations by the Maori Performing Arts Company and B-Boys were also a delight to watch. Clowns and characters including colourful mascots like the ostriches and a unicyclist with his dangerous juggling act captivated hundreds of people strolling along.

In addition, there were also puppet shows, face painting, arts and crafts and interactive games. Disc jockeys were also present all throughout the day playing music for people to enjoy.

Boy, the New Zealand coming-of-age story about a supremely likeable kid who reunites with his long-lost dad, was also screened at the event

Decorations at all venues were ostentatious, huge and colourful butterflies and birds by the trees and flags in various hues also added color to the festive mood of the event.

The breathtakingly beautiful architecture of the Katara Amphitheatre was also enjoyed by families many of them taking pictures.

The Family Day event lasted until 10.30 at night.

THE PENINSULA

Experts urge govt funding, better markets for Arab cinema

BY RAYNALD C RIVERA

DOHA: Government funding, building more cineplexes and educating viewers are needed to save the dying film industry in the Arab world, according to experts at the DTFF 2010 Doha Talks yesterday.

“The problem with Arab movies is the market; not enough theatres to screen these movies,” said Tarak Ben Ammar, CEO of Quinta Communications, whose recent film productions include Rachid Bouchareb’s Outside the Law and Julian Schnabel’s Miral.

“From 400 movie theatres, there are currently only 10 theatres in Morocco and the same trend happens in many countries in the region,” he said, citing lack of anti-piracy rules as the main reason for the decline.

Another problem that Ben Ammar mentioned is while countries spend billions of dollars for armaments, no fund is allocated for film production.

“Other than Qatar I’ve never seen any country that gives much attention to developing the film industry,” he noted, lauding the efforts of DFI Founder and Board Chair H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

“We must invest in our culture because if we do not, who else will,” he emphasised.

Educating audiences is also vital to encouraging especially the youth to watch movies, and this can be done through providing them quality films, said Ben Ammar.

While the film industry in the region lacks lustre except in some countries like Egypt and Turkey, the region is witnessing a very vibrant television industry. “There are around 990 Arab channels, the most in the world. Television can be the hope for talent,” he said.

The panel also focused on the changing landscape of the star system in Hollywood. Bhuvan Lall, President of Lall Entertainment, said the star system was very much alive in Bollywood.

THE PENINSULA

See also page 5

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