The Big Picture

The Doha Tribeca Film Festival takes place later this month... Discuss this article

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There’s Hollywood, Bollywood and even Nollywood. But in the tiny peninsula of Qatar, there’s no catchy name – nor film industry – to speak of. While the past few years may have seen a whole host of Arab film festivals sprouting up in the region, in places such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, nothing to date has reached Qatar.

That’s all set to change after the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) rolls into town this month, with a four-day film fest, parties, Hollywood celebrities jetting in for the occasion and, hopefully, the beginnings
of a film industry.

Originally created to help reinvigorate the local economy in Lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks of 2001, the Tribeca Film Festival has grown into a globally recognised brand with instant impact, a fact that wasn’t lost on Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad, a member of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family and chair of the Qatar Museums Authority.

Her stint as an intern in the office of New York’s Tribeca Film Festival led to the Qatar Museums Authority signing a partnership last year with Tribeca co-founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff.
Nearly a year later, the team behind DTFF hopes the event will have a similar impact; helping to nudge into existence a bona fide film industry in Qatar and the region.

According to Amanda Palmer, the festival’s executive director, Qatar is ready for a cultural revolution. Filmgoers are bored of the American blockbuster repertoire plaguing local cinemas, she says. Aspiring filmmakers are ready to be discovered and nurtured.

Appointed to head the Doha Tribeca Festival by the Sheikha herself, the petite blonde presenter and executive producer at Al Jazeera English emits an infectious energy when she talks about film. She knows her stuff; having worked in the television industry for years. She also serves on Qatar’s Film Committee and her film programme, The Fabulous Picture Show, has already helped to create a sounding board for young Qataris, with open forums discussing films relevant to the Arab world.

Palmer is determined – and well on her way – to ensuring the festival becomes a catalyst for change. But what will it do? How will it differ from other Gulf film events such as the Dubai Film Festival and the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi? According to Palmer, DTFF will create a platform, a support system and a network for aspiring filmmakers, who are largely ignored by sponsors and distributors.

‘A film festival has to have an international scope, with a long-term objective,’ she says. ‘Our objective is to help these emerging filmmakers who are crying out for support. We don’t want to simply screen their films, or just sign cheques. We are giving them access to incredible people who can help to shape their future; who can mentor them and advise them throughout the process.’

To nurture talent, Palmer enlisted Scandar Copti, an award-winning Palestinian filmmaker, as the community outreach programmer. From a temporary base in Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art, his team has been hard at work in the run-up to the festival, organising public screenings of films such as Uberto Pasolini’s Machan, and creating workshops teaching filmmaking techniques to novices, which, to their surprise and delight, have helped to unearth some home-grown talent.

When Time Out Doha stopped by, the team were right in the middle of a cattle call to find new filmmakers, who, under the care and guidance of their new mentors, recently produced their first one-minute films.
Copti, whose film Ajami generated international acclaim, is enthusiastic about the new generation of Arab filmmakers in Qatar. ‘We posted a lot of calls to action on Twitter and Facebook, and we’ve had 25 people
respond already,’ he says. ‘Today I picked seven – they’re just regular people. The youngest is 16 years old and very, very talented. The eldest is in their 30s.’

For Copti, the art to selecting a budding filmmaker is not about looking for instant perfection. First and foremost, filmmakers have to show individuality – the rest can be worked out later.

‘It’s all about the screenplay they write,’ he says. ‘It has to be interesting, not too naive, sophisticated, with a special message. Even when they sent them to me and they weren’t that good, I would email them back and say: “Listen, you have something here – can you work on it and have another look?”’

Copti adds that he’s particularly keen to unearth stories that move away from the clichés in Arab filmmaking, ‘like the terra novellas, Syrian or Egyptian film’.

‘The young generation of Arab filmmakers are much more sophisticated, so we’re trying to look for stuff that has some self-criticism or comedies,’ he says. ‘We had a great comedy with a great punch at the end from one of our young guys. It’s called Johnny Killer.

It’s amazing.” Some of the completed one-minute films are now live on the festival website, which also features a multimedia project called Doha 365 – video content about the city, the culture and the people; be it the art of henna painting, the Filipino expat community or merchants selling wares at Souk Waqif.

‘We wanted to create a website that wasn’t just about the festival, showing that we’re here long-term,’ Palmer says. ‘We wanted to reflect that this is a festival involving people from the local community and involving Qatar.’

Fatma Al Remaihi is one local Qatari woman hired for that reason. ‘She’s part of the original team and she works very closely with us on everything, from programming to film advising, making sure that everything feels like it comes out of Qatar,’ says Palmer.

‘What should we do? What kind of party should we hold? Everything has to be as authentic as possible.’ Fatma, who happily admits she is obsessed by film, says she fired off her CV the minute she heard Tribeca was coming to Doha. Within days of being interviewed, she was on a plane – heading to New York with the team to learn about the Tribeca festival.

‘I have hundreds and hundreds of movies. I had to be involved,’ she told Time Out Doha. ‘It is really wonderful to finally have something like this in Qatar.’

While Qollywood may not have the same ring to it, the future looks bright for Qatar’s film foray, and festivalgoers are in for a treat. While the schedule wasn’t finalised at the time of writing, turn overleaf for a sneak preview.

Doha Tribeca Film Festival takes place from October 29-November 1 at various locations around Doha. For more details, go to the website, www.dohatribecafilm.com, nearer the time.