DTFF is proud to announce two new free special events that will give you an opportunity to get up close to screen legends Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Hiam Abbass, and Mohamed Khan.
These events have limited seating, and is first-come first-serve for all badge holders.
One Minute Films Special Event
with Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Geoff Gilmore,
Hiam Abbass and Scandar Copti
Date/Time: Sun, 11/01 @ 16:30
Location: MIA Auditorium
Get ready for part two of the One Minute Films Special Event. Following Martin Scorsese and Mohamed Khan’s screening on Friday, this is another great opportunity to watch these nine films with screen legends Robert De Niro and Hiam Abbass, along with Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of Tribeca Film Festival; Geoff Gilmore of Tribeca Enterprises; and Scandar Copti, filmmaker and creator of the One Minute Films at the DTFF.
Across the Arab world, an unprecedented wave of new filmmakers is dramatically changing the way we identify East, West, and everything in between. These young directors, many of whom grew up in the shadow of civil war and political strife in their native countries, are imbuing their filmmaking aesthetic with an often intriguing mix of Arabic subject matter merged with cultural influences from both Hollywood and Europe.
Join this dynamic group as they give words of wisdom to these filmmakers from across the Middle East about their sources of inspiration and the challenges they are facing as they forge ahead with their careers.
Biographies
Robert De Niro
Co-Founder, Tribeca Film Festival
De Niro is a two-time Oscar® award winning actor, film producer and director. In addition to his prolific film career, he is the co-founder of Tribeca Productions, the Tribeca Film Festival and Tribeca Film Institute as well as a restaurateur and hotelier.
Jane Rosenthal
Co-Founder, Tribeca Film Festival
In 1988, Rosenthal co-founded Tribeca Productions and the Tribeca Film Center with Robert De Niro. She has distinguished herself as a leading film producer with a roster of both critically and commercially acclaimed films. In 2002, De Niro, Rosenthal and her husband Craig Hatkoff created the Tribeca Film Festival in order to foster the revitalization of downtown New York City. They also created the Tribeca Film Institute to provide financial and networking resources to filmmakers and youth.
Geoffrey Gilmore
Chief Creative Officer/Board Member, Tribeca Enterprises
Gilmore is responsible for leading Tribeca’s creative development initiatives and expansion of the brand. He came to Tribeca after serving as Director of the Sundance Film Festival, where since 1990 he was responsible for film selection and programming. Gilmore was also a consultant for the Sundance Channel and Sundance Cinemas and served as head of the UCLA Film & Television Archive's programming. He taught a course on independent production in the UCLA Department of Film and Television and has lectured in Paris, Germany, Japan, and China.
Hiam Abbass
Born in Nazareth in 1960, Hiam Abbass began her acting career in Paris. She’s a veteran of such critical darlings as Hany Abu-Assad's Academy Award-nominated Paradise Now, Steven Spielberg's Munich, and Eran Riklis' The Syrian Bride. For Rikis' new film, Lemon Tree, she is the recipient of a European Film Award nomination and Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Actress. On Munich, in addition to acting, she served as a creative consultant and acting coach to child and first-time actors. She is also an accomplished photographer and the writer and director of two short films, Le Pain and La Danse éternelle. Abbass will next star in Julian Schnabel’s Miral, the lead role of real-life heroine Hind Husseini, who rescued 55 orphan survivors of 1948's Deir Yassin massacre near Jerusalem.
Scandar Copti
DTFF Community Outreach Programmer
Copti is a Palestinian filmmaker born and raised in Jaffa, and is responsible for developing DTFF local community programs. In 2009, his first full-length feature film "Ajami" won the Camera d'Or Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival and the Wolgin Award for Best Full-Length Feature Film at the Jerusalem Film Festival. Formerly a mechanical engineer, Copti has also written, directed and edited several fiction, documentary and experimental short films.
One Minute Films Special Event
with Martin Scorsese and Mohamed Khan
Date/Time: Fri, 10/30 @ 14:30 - 15:00
Location: MIA auditorium
Join legendary film directors Martin Scorsese and Mohamed Khan as they introduce this year’s DTFF one minute films. Also, stay tuned for part two of this special event on Sunday 1 November when these nine emerging filmmakers are introduced by Robert De Niro and other special guests.
Please note that this event has limited seating, and is first-come first-serve for all badge holders.
Biographies
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese is one of the most admired filmmakers of his generation – both as an innovator and as a craftsman firmly grounded in cinematic tradition. And as chairman of the World Cinema Foundation (WCF), along with his many previous efforts, he’s proved to be one of the most effective advocates ever for film preservation. The public screening of the WCF’s magnificent restoration of the 1969 Egyptian classic The Mummy will be one of the highlights of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.
Raised in New York’s Little Italy district, Scorsese has infused that background into much of his work, especially his landmark collaborations with Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert De Niro, including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and many more.
These are unarguably some of the most thrilling films ever made. Despite his breathtaking eclecticism, there are consistent themes in Scorsese’s work.
These include Catholicism; the Italian-American experience; New York City as a living, breathing character; the power of popular music to evoke emotions and memories; and the pros and cons of direct, unvarnished brutality, from the fierce punches of boxer Jake LaMotta (Raging Bull) to the psychotic bitterness of an ex-con in Cape Fear to the Chinese troops crushing the delicate Tibetan sand mandalas in Kundun to the acidly verbal parry and thrust of The Age of Innocence.
Almost unique in cinematic history, Scorsese has never gone through a fallow period; at age 66, each new film continues to be greeted with excitement and expectation. His upcoming projects include Shutter Island, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Sir Ben Kingsley, a new George Harrison documentary, and a biopic about Frank Sinatra.
Mohamed Khan
Mohamed Khan, a director and writer behind some of Egypt's most iconic films, actually traces his roots to Pakistan (on his father's side) and Italy (on his mother's).
That hasn't stopped him from producing over 20 films that many Egyptians see as classic portrayals of their society.
Born in 1942 in Cairo, Khan spent his childhood in Egypt, before attending university in England. He holds a diploma from the London School of Film Technique, worked as an assistant director in Lebanon, and wrote an English language book, "Introduction to the Egyptian Cinema."
He holds two nominations for the Golden Prize at the Moscow Film Festival - for 1983's El-Harrif (Street Player, with fellow DTFF guest Adel Imam) and 1987's Zawget Ragol Mohem (The Wife of an Important Person).
Khan is also the recipient of a national Medal in Science and Arts, awarded in 2001 for his film Ayyam El-Sadat (The Days of Sadat) by Egyptian president Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.
In recent years, he has continued to innovate. In 2004, he shot his first digital film, Klephty. His 2007 film, Fi Shaket Masr El Gedeeda (In the Heliopolis Flat), stars fellow DTFF guest Khaled Naga.