Preview: Doha Tribeca Film Festival

Doha Film Institute

Launched in May 2010, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the Doha Film Institute (DFI) is already one of the Middle East’s most important cultural institutions.

DFI is an umbrella organisation for the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF), numerous film-education initiatives, and much more, with an eye towards creating a sustainable film industry in Qatar and further establishing its capital, Doha, as the cultural hub of the Middle East.

FPS takes a look at the amazing past year for cinema in Doha, including the first-ever DTFF (in October 2009), the incredibly swift expansion of DTFF into DFI, and the many projects which have taken Doha from cinematic minnow to international cinematic force.

Ten-minute movies

Outside the Law by Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb

A year-round education programme is at the core of the Doha Film Institute’s mission, and at the first DTFF, novice filmmakers were given the opportunity to make one-minute films.

They were judged by director Martin Scorsese, who praised a young Qatari woman for her outstanding 60-second gem. 

This year, the DFI upped the ante, and challenged the filmmakers to produce ten-minute films.

The Fabulous Picture Show goes behind the scenes, and also takes a look at the best of this year’s one-minute movies, including a 13-year-old’s film about a boy who turns into an iPod.

DTFF Preview

This year the Doha Tribeca Film Festival opens with the Middle Eastern premiere of Rachid Bouchareb’s Outside The Law, a controversial look at the Algerian independence movement’s fight within mainland France.

The Fabulous Picture Show talks to Bouchareb about Outside The Law, and previews the rest of the DTFF line-up, with expert commentary from Mona Deeley of the Zenith Foundation.We also have a special focus on the new Arab film competition, which features ten films, 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.

Other programme highlights include Julian Schnabel’s Miral, starring Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Stephen Frears’ Tamara Drewe, starring Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia), Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, Randall Wallace’s Secretariat, and Jasmila Zbanic’s On the Path.

The Doha Tribeca Film Festival takes place from 26-30 October 2010.

Click here to visit the DTFF 2010 Website

This episode of the Fabulous Picture Show can be seen from Thursday, October 14, at the following times GMT: Thursday: 0630, 1430; Friday: 0300; Saturday: 0830, 1630; Sunday: 0230, 1230, 2330; Tuesday: 1930; Wednesday: 0030, 0730.