The 2011 Doha Tribeca Film Festival’s (DTFF) announced today that Luc Besson’s The Lady is the closing night film for the five-day Festival (October 25-29) along with the Contemporary World Cinema programme.
Starring Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, William Hope and Sahajak Boonthanakit, The Lady is an epic biopic depicting the real life love story of Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi’s marriage to writer-academic, Michael Aris, as she fights against governmental oppression to instill democracy into Burma’s political system.
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA: FILM PROGRAMME
Almanya – Welcome To Germany (Yasemin Samdereli) – Narrative (GERMANY, TURKEY)
2010
MENA PREMIERE
A charming cross-cultural comedy about three generations of German-Turks, Almanya is the story of a Turkish family living in Germany who set off together for their homeland. Moving across the past and present, the journey is full of memories, arguments and reconciliations, until the family trip takes an unexpected turn …
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) – Narrative (FRANCE) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
A visually enthralling homage to the early years of cinema, The Artist is a black and white silent film set in Hollywood in the late 1920s. In an ambitious and beautifully executed celebration of the silver screen we follow the last great silent film star, George Valentin and his relationship with a beautiful extra, whose star is on the rise in the talkie circuit.
Bullhead (Rundskop) (Michaël R. Roskam) – Narrative (BELGIUM) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
A crime-drama about Jacky Vanmarsenille, a young Limburg cattle farmer who is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious West-Flemish beef trader. A confrontation with a secret from Jacky’s past sets in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.
Chinese Take Away (Un cuento chino) (Sebastián Borensztein) – Narrative (ARGENTINA,
SPAIN) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
A delightful and heartwarming Latin American comedy, Chinese Take-Away is the story of Jun, a Chinese man who has just landed in Argentina and doesn’t speak a word of Spanish, and Roberto, the grumpy shopkeeper who is forced to adopt him.
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (Morgan Spurlock) – Documentary (USA) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
Morgan Spurlock explores the hopes and dreams of fans making the annual pilgrimage to Comic-Con – the San Diego convention which began as a fringe comic book meet in 1970 and has now become the pop culture event of the year. As we follow the aspiring punters we also meet the people who turned their passions into professions including Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Frank Miller and Matt Groening and along the way, witness the spectacle that Comic-Con has become.
Declaration of War (La guerre est déclarée) (Valérie Donzelli) – Narrative (FRANCE) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
Based on the filmmaker’s personal experience, Declaration of War is an intimate portrait of the struggle endured by a young woman and the father of her child when they find out their son has a brain tumor. Thrust from their young, carefree love into a harsh and unexpected chaos, the traumatic experience reveals their strength, courage and heroism.
Headhunters (Hodejegerne) (Morten Tyldum) – Narrative (NORWAY) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
Based on the best-selling novel by Jo Nesbø, this Norwegian crime thriller follows Roger, a successful corporate headhunter and secret art thief. He risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary and when things go bad, he is forced to run for his life.
The Hunter (Daniel Nettheim) – Narrative (AUSTRALIA) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
Based on the acclaimed novel by Julia Leigh, The Hunter is a powerful psychological drama that tells the story of Martin, a mercenary sent from Europe by a mysterious biotech company to Australia’s Tasmanian wilderness on a dramatic hunt for the last Tasmanian Tiger.
In the Open (El campo) (Hernán Belón) – Narrative (ARGENTINA, ITALY, FRANCE) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
A young woman, Elisa, moves to the country with her husband and young daughter. She has a successful career, a happy family and plans for the future but when they arrive at the rundown provincial home, a strange feeling slowly takes over her and her sixth sense begins to awaken.
Mama Africa – (Mika Kaurismäki) – Documentary (GERMANY, SOUTH AFRICA, FINLAND)
2011
MENA PREMIERE
A documentary about the late, incredibly talented and charismatic South African musical icon, Miriam Makeba, who traveled the world with her powerful voice speaking a message against racism and poverty and for equality and peace. Mama Africa is homage to an extraordinary and impressive artist who, through more than 50 years of performing, incarnates the voice and the hope of Africa.
Toll Booth (Gise Memuru) (Tolga Karaçelik) – Narrative (TURKEY) 2010
MENA PREMIERE
Kenan is a reclusive toll booth attendant living with his ailing father. His reclusive, humdrum life takes a dramatic turn when the newly appointed toll booth manager visits for supervision in this darkly comedic tale of miscommunication, isolation and father/son conflict.
Tormented (Rabitto Horaa) (Takashi Shimizu) – Narrative (JAPAN) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
Tormented ventures into the terrifying corners of the mind through a young boy whose family seems to be falling apart around him. He manifests a dangerous friendship and reliance on a stuffed toy rabbit that comes to life. Is he crazy; is his sister alive or dead; is their storybook illustrating father going insane or are they all delusional?
Where Do We Go Now? (W Halla’ La Wein?) (Nadine Labaki) – Narrative (LEBANON,
FRANCE, ITALY, EGYPT) 2011
GULF PREMIERE
Set in a religiously mixed Lebanese village during the fall-out from a distant war, this poignant fable centers on a group of women as they unwaveringly attempt to preserve their town in the midst of inter-religious tensions.
The Woman in the Fifth (Pawel Pawlikowski) – Narrative (FRANCE, POLAND, UK) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
American writer Tom Ricks comes to Paris desperate to put his life back together and win back the love of his estranged wife and daughter. Things don’t go according to plan and when he gets involved with a beautiful and mysterious widow, an obscure force seems to take control of his life.
¡Vivan las Antípodas! (Long Live The Antipodes!) (Victor Kossakovsky) – Documentary
(GERMANY, ARGENTINA, NETHERLANDS, CHILE) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
A breathtakingly original documentary which views the world upside down by visiting four pairs of locations which are diametrically opposite to eachother on the earth’s surface. The pairs seem mythically connected, somehow united by their oppositeness: a peaceful sunset in Entre Rios to the bustling streets of Shanghai; fields of burning black lava in Hawaii to a village kiosk in Botswana – 8000 miles through the centre of the Earth.
Vol Spécial (Special Flight) (Fernand Melgar) – Documentary (SWITZERLAND) 2011
MENA PREMIERE
A powerful and moving documentary about the thousands of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers held every year at a Switzerland detention centre prior to being expelled from the country. Through the stories of six migrants, the film reveals the months of waiting, hope and despair and the relationships that form between the deeply human wardens, and immigrants at the end of their journeys.