De Niro awards prize-winners at Doha Tribeca Film Fest
Last Updated: Monday, November 2, 2009 | 3:03 PM ET
CBC News
Sophia al-Maria, the winner of the One-Minute Film category for her movie The Racer, talks to American actor Robert De Niro during the closing ceremony of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday. (Maneesh Bakshi/Associated Press)Hollywood veteran Robert De Niro was on hand to celebrate the award-winners of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival over the weekend, participating in discussions and distributing prizes for the fledgling Qatari event's inaugural edition.
De Niro, who established the original Tribeca Film Festival in 2001 to help New York recover from the Sept. 11 attacks, presented the Doha offshoot's two $50,000 Audience Awards at a gala in Doha on Sunday as the four-day festival drew to a close.
"I cannot express how proud I am. This is only the first year, but based on the past four days, the future of the festival in Doha is bright," De Niro said before announcing the winners.
The $50,000 Best Festival Film award went to London-based, New York filmmaker Liz Mermin's documentary Team Qatar, which follows the forming of the country's first national high school debate team and its quest to compete at the World Schools Debating Championship in Washington, D.C.
In the category of Best Arab Film, also worth $50,000, Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najiar was victorious with her feature film debut Pomegranates and Myrrh, a love story about a dance aficionado who is torn between her feelings for two men.
Up-and-comer Sophia al-Maria was touted as a promising Qatari filmmaker as her movie The Racer won the Best One-Minute Film category.
Created in the summer as part of a Doha Tribeca Film Festival filmmaking workshop, the London-based al-Maria's short movie explores racing and reckless driving in Doha.
Along with de Niro, actor Ben Kingsley and directors Martin Scorsese and Mira Nair were among the prominent industry figures attending this year's inaugural festival. Nair's latest, the biopic Amelia, opened the event.
The films played on large outdoor screens as well as in an open theatre on the grounds of Doha's new Islamic Museum.
The goal of festival organizers is to inspire a new generation of filmmakers in the Middle East and provide a platform for the region's budding movie industry.
With files from The Associated Press
