
Well, this was best weekend ever in Doha (WTA championship tennis, Halloween parties, and..... Tribeca!). The Tribeca film festival, started after the 9/11 attacks by Robert DeNiro and others to stimulate the NYC economy through the arts, has come to Doha with the first annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival!
Nick and I can count the number of times we've been to the cinemas here on one hand -- usually they only import the biggest blockbusters (which do, usually, suck -- see Exhibit A, Terminator 3). We often wistfully think of Providence's Cable Car Cinema and the Avon Theater, and DC's E Street Cinema, with their varied independent offerings. So having Tribeca come to Doha, with tickets for all movies at 10 QR each (that's ~$2.50), was an incredible breath of cultural fresh air. Luckily, we went to the box office a couple weeks ahead of time and managed to snag the last tickets to several shows of interest... and we were eagerly anticipating this weekend's shows.
And we were not disappointed! The four films we saw were all interesting and thought-provoking, and two of them won festival awards -- Team Qatar for best festival film and Pomegranates and Myrrh for best Arab film -- so I guess we chose well! (Although, mental note: I definitely want to see
Road, Movie, a film from India, at some point in the future...) Following are the synopses of the films, along with our reviews... but first, a report on the celebrity schmoozing. :)

Besides the films, we got to go to the "exclusive" opening night-after party at the Four Seasons hotel, thanks to our well-connected friend Jovitta. Nick and I got all dolled up -- him more than me -- in anticipation of all the celebrity sightings we were sure we'd make. Many celebrities had been invited, including Robert DeNiro, Brad Pitt, and all the tennis stars (including Venus and Serena). Yet as we scanned the crowd, our (well, my) heels sunk into the squishy turf of the humid outdoor area

overlooking the bay, eating free lobster and mourning the lack of an open bar, we began to realize that if you were actually a celebrity, there would be absolutely no reason to actually show up at such a peon-populated event as this. Martin Scorcese and Ben Kingsley were apparently spotted, although we did no such spotting, but I did miss an opportunity to have a casual interaction with Patricia Clarkson, who strolled by me wearing the most incredible peach silk dress. I, of course, only had eyes for the dress, and almost stopped her just to compliment her on it, but I didn't... and then a Georgetown colleague came up to chat, pointed at the retreating back of the peach silk dress, and said, "That's Patricia Clarkson!" Wouldn't it have been a better story if I had just complimented her five seconds earlier?

Of course, we weren't the only people frantically scanning the crowd for celebrities. The best part of the evening -- besides the entire bowl of lobster freshly sauteed in butter and garlic that I wolfed down -- was when Nick, James, and I were sitting in one of the majlis areas around midnight, and a lady shyly came up to Nick and asked to have her picture taken with him. Perhaps seeing my face, she hastily amended her request to, "...with ALL of you," and so we all had our picture taken with this lady who clearly thought my husband was slightly more important than he actually is. But who, who did she think he was?!? It was a great moment. Apparently Nick's decisions to pop both his shirt AND jacket collar, wear sunglasses all night, and keep his Brad Pitt-esque stubble paid off. Until next year...
About Elly, Iran, Director: Asghar Farhadi
The winner of the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival’s Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, Asghar Farhadi's About Elly is a tense ensemble drama that unmasks male-female relationships in middle class Iran. Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani) plans a weekend getaway to the Caspian Sea with some friends, and invites her son's kindergarten teacher, Elly (Taraneh Alidoosti), to finally introduce her to the newly single Ahmad (Shahab Hosseini). However, her well-intentioned game of cupid turns foul when the trip is struck by sudden tragedy and Elly disappears. Fear and guilt riddle the group as they try to find Elly but Sepideh's secret soon triggers a web of lies where saving face becomes more important than revealing the truth. Farhadi skillfully sculpts a well-acted and powerful drama while maintaining the pace of a suspenseful mystery. A sophisticated and effective work of Iranian Cinema, Farhadi continues to illuminate the complexities and contradictions of Iranian life.Our take: The movie dragged on a bit too long... but considering it had powerful and subtle character development, dealt with the "what happens after" shock and grief of tragedy, and painted a truly interesting portrait of Iranian culture (especially as it deals with women), we still really enjoyed it.
Pomegranates and Myrrh, Palestine, Director: Najwa Najjar
Najwa Najjar’s first feature film, Pomegranates and Myrrh, shot in the Palestinian territories, is a beautiful love triangle set against the backdrop of occupation. Talented dancer Kamar (Yasmine Al Massri, Caramel) has just married the man of her dreams, Zaid (Ashraf Farah). Their honeymoon is short-lived, however, when he is arrested by Israeli forces after refusing to give up his land, which is being confiscated. When Zaid is sent to prison, Kamar finds escape from her loneliness through dance classes with handsome choreographer Kais (Ali Suleiman, Paradise Now). Hailed as being the first truly Palestinian production, Najjar’s film is both a portrait of a strong woman as well as a look at the bittersweet reality of life under conflict. In a way, her feature, like her previous shorts, is Najjar’s own stand against the occupation — the conflict being only the frame to her picture.Our take: We were captivated throughout by the excellent characters and the compelling story, and several times I found myself close to tears (including when I briefly broke down after the movie ended). The decision to tell the story through the viewpoint of a main character who barely speaks was an apt symbol for the Palestinian voice today. Some of the images were incredible and heart-breaking. I'm not surprised it won the prize for Best Arab Film at the festival and I encourage everyone to see it.
South of the Border, USA, Director: Oliver Stone
In January 2009, Oliver Stone traveled to Venezuela to interview President Hugo Chávez to examine how he has been portrayed in the U.S. media. Once the journey began, however, Stone and his crew found themselves going beyond Venezuela to several other countries, and interviewing seven Presidents in the region, telling a larger and even more compelling story. In casual conversation, Stone sits down with Presidents Chávez, Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Néstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba).Our take: We thought it would be interesting to hear, in their own words, the various populist leaders of South America describe their relationship with the US. Of course, Oliver Stone brings his own viewpoint to this "documentary," resulting in a very one-sided look. It could have been a great film if the information given by the leaders (especially Venezuela's Hugo Chavez) had been balanced by some additional facts. For example, Stone shows how Chavez has been vilified in the US media (especially during the Bush administration, and especially on the FOX channel). However, if you just watched this film, you'd be unaware of any reasons to criticize Chavez (such as his increased suppression of the independent media, his attempts to change the constitution to give the presidency more power, and his influencing of elections through use of state funds to support his preferred candidates as well as banning of candidates and parties that don't agree with him). We appreciated the opportunity to see these leaders in an alternative way, but just as with Michael Moore's documentaries, only an educated person who is willing to fact-check for themselves should go see this film.
Team Qatar, UK, Director: Liz Mermin
The government of Arab emirate Qatar hired a team of recent Oxford grads to coach the country's first national high school debate team. Led by the springy, quintessentially witty Brit Alex, the five multicultural 15- to 17-year-olds are setting their sights high: their first competitive debate will take place at the World Schools Debating Championship in Washington, DC. Team Qatar follows the group on a whirlwind crash course in debate that takes them from Doha to London to New York. A suspenseful competition movie while also closely examining the culture, Team Qatar invites us into the lives of a group of young Middle Easterners with diverse backgrounds and different ideas. Their candid conversations about religion and politics captured by director Liz Mermin's fly-on-the-wall camera, reveal varying degrees of worldliness, but they always challenge stereotypes.Our take: We chose to see Team Qatar over Michael Moore's Capitalism and India's Road, Movie because we felt we should support a film based on recent events in Qatar: namely, the creation of the first Qatari high school debate team and their competition in the World Debates in Washington, DC. Several stars of the film, including the British coach, were in attendance at the film (along with a huge fan base of friends and family), which made it even more fun to watch. The movie itself didn't teach us much about Qatari culture that we didn't already know, but we would certainly recommend it to those who would like to learn a little about it in an amusing and engaging way. One interesting observation is that, of the five kids on the debate team, only one is of Qatari nationality -- but that 20% is about the ratio of Qataris to expats, so it's only normal for this society. I would have liked the film to delve a little deeper into Qatari culture and society -- perhaps by doing some informative segues a la documentarians Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock -- but as a time capsule of this one team's experience in this one competition, it was enjoyable. I do suspect a bit of hometown favoritism in the awarding of the Best Festival Film, however. :)
Credits:
Picture of Patricia Clarkson, Michael Buckner, Getty ImagesAbout Elly screenshot, Doha Tribeca Film FestivalPomegranates and Myrrh screenshot, International Film Festival RotterdamSouth of the Border screenshot, Doha Tribeca Film FestivalTeam Qatar, BBCSynopses of the movies from Doha Tribeca Film Festival webpage