“Hawi” and “Balls” Lead Doha Winners
The second Doha Tribeca Film Festival wrapped things up in fine style on Saturday night, attracting thousands to the announcement of the Jury and Audience Award winners, a Closing Night Gala screening of “First Graders” and an open-hour concert by superstar Ragheb Alama at the brand new Katara Cultural Village.
“Hawi” directed and written by Ibrahim El Batout, won Best Arab Film and “Balls” directed by Josef Fares picked up the award for Best Arab Filmmaker, in recognition for its screenplay. “The First Grader” and “Grandma, A Thousand Times” won Audience Awards for Best Narrative Film and Best Documentary Film. The prize for Best Arab Short Film went to Sirwar Zirkly’s “Missing.” Mahmoud Kaabour, director of “Grandma, A Thousand Times” also received a Special Jury Mention in the Arab Film Competition for his film.
The jury prizes were a first for the festival. The two Arab film competition winners each received $100,000 and Audience Award winners also each received $100,000. The five-member DTFF jury consisted of Yosra, Salma Hayek Pinault, Nick Moran, Bavna Talwar and Danis Tanovic. The jury for the Arab Short Film Competition was comprised of filmmakers from the Arab Film Competition. and the prize carried with it a $10,000 prize.
Amanda Palmer, Executive Director of the Doha Film Institute said: “This year’s DTFF has provided a fantastic showcase for our Arab and international filmmakers and I’d like to congratulate all of this year’s prize winners and thank our jury for their careful deliberation. The array of films we’ve screened over the past five days span the personal to the epic, and we’ve seen films that engage, entertain and touch us by using the simple skills of storytelling.”
The second Doha Tribeca Film Festival was held October 26 – October 30 and featured 51 feature films from the Middle East and 35 countries around the world. Don’t miss indieWIRE‘s upcoming complete wrap-up of the festival.
