We thought it would be business as usual at the daily team meeting in the Cinemaxx Cafe - but that all changed when Amanda Palmer, our Executive Director, arrived with Geoff Gilmore! For those of you who don't know, Geoff Gilmore is not only Chief Creative Officer for Tribeca Film Festival, but also one of the most well-respected festival programmers in the world.
Amanda and Geoff went on to lead a great discussion about challenging ourselves to keep an open mind throughout the screening process and eventually choosing the right films for Doha. The talk gave us all a fresh jolt of energy and a made us think hard about the opportunity and responsibility of assembling a film slate for DTFF 2010 (The video on the left has a brief clip from the meeting).
As a Qatari and trainee filmmaker, experiencing Berlinale and working at an international level has made me realize what film festivals like DTFF have to offer young people from the Middle East. I'm constantly reminded of the incredible opportunities available to the next generation of Arab filmmakers - now is our time to take charge of the spotlight and tell our own great stories.
I've also been very lucky to be working along side Scandar Copti, whose film "Ajami" was recently nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. He's also an educational workshop leader and Programmer at DTFF, so he's been extremely busy here - I'm doing my best to keep up with him!
With all that's going on and all of the people and movies we're soaking in, the DTFF team will be bringing back some great films, contacts, and inspiration for the year ahead. Looking forward to DTFF 2010 already...
Faisal Al Thani - Trainee Filmmaker