Doha selects 21 films for Contemporary World Cinema and 12 for Special Screenings

The Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) (Nov 17-24) has selected 21 films for its Contemporary World Cinema section and 12 Special Screenings.

The Special Screenings include Silver Linings Playbook, Seven Psychopaths, and Rise of the Guardians 3D, which will close the festival.

Free beach screenings for locals will include the WCF-restored Trances by Ahmed El Maanouni, The Brave Hearted Will Take the Bride by Aditya Chopra, Guiseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Majid Majidi’s Children of Heaven.

Contemporary World Cinema titles include Oscar submissions Children of Sarajevo, Just The Wind, Kon-Tiki, The Deep, Myn Bala and White Tiger. Other titles include Searching For Sugar Man, Kuma, Thursday Till Sunday, Venus and Serena, The Hunt, The Angels’ Share, Reality and More Than Honey.

The festival will also present a Japanese Snapshots programme (honouring the 40th year of diplomatic relations between Qatar and Japan) including Trace by Naomi Kawase and Lucy Walker’s The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.

His Excellency Mr Issa Bin Mohammed Al-Mohannadi, DTFF Vice Chair, said: “The selection of films from around the world this year underlines our commitment to bringing the best of local, regional, and international cinema for our community. Through this powerful showcase, audiences can access some of the most sought-after movies in one destination. The films will also appeal to the multicultural
population of Doha, further reiterating our mandate to create a truly community-centred festival.”

Ludmila Cvikova, Head of International Programming at DFI, said, “We are very pleased with the final selection of international films at DTFF 2012 which we think includes the right balance of auteurs and acknowledged filmmakers like Ken Loach, Chen Kaige, Thomas Vittenberg, Bence Flieghauf, with upcoming directors like Radu Jude, Dominga Sotomayor, Malik Bendejloul and many more. The themes and genres vary from challenging subjects to light-hearted family entertainers. From independent and art-house films to studio projects, the creative approaches of all the directors truly reflect trends and developments of the modern language of cinema. It is a great opportunity for local audiences to see rare films that have not screened in this part of the world.”

In all, the fourth DTFF will show 87 films.