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Politics, Hollywood converge in Doha
The Tribeca Film Festival was conceived nine years ago to help revive the economy of Lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11
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The Tribeca Film Festival was conceived nine years ago to help revive the economy of Lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11.
It is fitting that the New York film festival — founded by actor Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal and philanthropist Craig Hatkoff — finally landed in the Middle East, known to be the place where the 9/11 attackers planted their roots.
The capital city of Qatar, Doha, has played host to its Middle East incarnation, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF), for the past two years.
In a region known to be one of the world’s most troubled, it certainly helps to have a film festival in which a young generation of local filmmakers can channel their creativity and youthful energy.
That’s what the DTFF officials had in mind when deciding to hold the festival there.
“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,” Doha Film Institute executive director Amanda Palmer said in a statement.
One film to join the festival competition this year, from one of the best talents of the region, is Hawi, a feature written and directed by Egyptian Ibrahim El Batout.
El Batout presents a number of narratives in his portrait of modern Alexandria, from a released prisoner on a mission to retrieve a set of documents, a man roaming the streets towing a sickly horse and a group of writers gathering to compose a song.
Another intriguing film is Man without a Cell phone, directed by Palestinian Sameh Zoabi. In this comedy, Zoabi tells the story of twentysomething slackers who find themselves caught between angry parents and suspicious Israelis when all they really want to do is have fun, hang out and pick up girls.
A festival standout is The Mountain, written and directed by Lebanese filmmaker Ghassan Salhab. In this black-and-white feature, Salhab takes us on a journey into the mind of a man who spends a month in isolation at a desolate hotel. To test the audience’s patience, Salhab included no dialogue in the film.
The festival will also screen a number of films that tackle subjects of importance to the region like Bhutto, a documentary directed by Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara about the late Benazir Bhutto, the first woman elected to rule a Muslim country.
The two directors interviewed both family and foe of Bhutto, from (now Pakistani President) Asif Zardari, Bhutto’s daughter Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Bhutto’s son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and movie producer Mark Siegel.
Afghan-born German filmmaker Burhan Qurbani in Shahada tackles a common problem among Muslims living in the West: how to reconcile their faith with modern western life. In the film, three young German-born Muslims are caught in the crossroads between alluringly liberated lifestyles and deeply-rooted tradition.
The Tribeca Film Festival is known as a premiere venue for Hollywood blockbusters such as Shrek Forever After, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Spider-Man 3 and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
For this year’s DTFF, blockbuster Hollywood films will be absent. In their place will be critically acclaimed documentaries and feature films from America.
One of the films to likely draw huge crowds is Waiting for “Superman”, a documentary about the failure of the American public school system directed by Davis Guggenheim. Guggenheim is known for his ground-breaking – and Oscar-winning – documentary An Inconvenient Truth and the rock music documentary It Might Get Loud.
Another Hollywood production at the festival is Secretariat, directed by Randall Wallace. Actor Diane Lane stars as a woman who leaves city life to take over her ailing father’s crumbling farm, including raising a stallion that will become the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised the film, saying movie fans should watch it and bask in its glory.
Another highlight of the festival is Miral. In this French-UK production, Julian Schnabel, who directed the Oscar-nominated The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Berlin and Basquiat, tells the story of four women on a search for justice, hope and reconciliation. The film includes performances by Frida Pinto, William Dafoe, Vanessa Redgrave and Hiam Abbas.
Opening the six-day festival will be the critically-acclaimed Outside the Law on Oct. 26, and The First Grader will close the festival on Oct. 30.
Outside the Law, directed by French-Algerian Rachid Bouchareb, chronicles the lives of three brothers who part ways after their home is bombed. They each embark on individual journeys before reuniting in Paris and later vowing to reclaim their home.
The First Grader is about an elderly man who wants to enroll in a local school and learn to read. The film, based on a true story, was directed by Englishman Justin Chadwick, who also helmed the Hollywood production The Other Boleyn Girl.
See you on the red carpet.
