Day 3 Highlights

Tweets and quotes of Day #3

• Updating his followers one last time before boarding his flight, @MorganSpurlock tweeted: “Am back at JFK, I know, I can’t believe it either. About to board my flight to @DohaFilm, Comic-Con Ep 4 is about get all freaky on #DTFF11.”

• Our followers and Facebook fans have been growing throughout this festival. We tweeted this earlier. @DohaFilm: “We’re almost at 16K ‘likes’ on FB & Day 3 isn’t even close to over! 20K & we pick an iPad winner at random!”

• One of the world’s biggest film magazines tweeted about a new initiative to foster local talent, which arose from this year’s festival. @Variety_Film: “Miramax, DFI ink intern pact: Film News: Qatari students to work at company’s offices.”

• The Gulf Times reviewed The Artist in its latest edition, and we couldn’t agree more. “This is a quite beautiful film and certainly one of most interesting and creative pieces on display at the festival this year.”

• @susiebillings’ tweet captures the ultimate dilemma of film fans at this time of year. “Overdosing on film at #DTFF11! Now at Toll Booth. So many hard decisions as really want to see Almanya as well!”

DFI Kids Access 2

The kids have taken over the red carpet again and this time they managed to practice some Indian style dance moves in between presenting. Join these two youthful hosts, who are part of this year’s Giffoni experience , as they catch up with the bejeweled Bollywood fans on their way to watch one of the greatest love stories ever told.

The Shankaboot

The Shankaboot team, who has flown in from Lebanon to join this year’s DTFF, stopped by to talk to us about their popular web drama series. It’s an Emmy award winning show which has viewers hooked because of the interactive nature of the series where the audience gets to influence where the story goes.

Almanya

We headed on a path from Turkey to Germany, and then back again, in Almanya, a film which in this year’s DTFF competition. The story tackles the trials and tribulations of a Turkish family and their journey as immigrants to Germany, using humour which caused the kind of laughter which brings you to tears.

Mama Africa

Mika Kaurismäki’s Mama Africa is a documentary about the godmother of South African music, Miriam Makeba. This screening paid homage to the woman, whose voice embodies the hope of Africa.

Angélique Kidjo

Angélique Kidjo’s concert, which followed the epic documentary on Miriam Makeba might be one of the best performances Doha will ever witness. The emotional show by the Beninese singer, under the stars at the Katara Open Air Theatre, was met with joy as her beautifully distinctive left the audience speechless. The Grammy award winning artist “performed a rendition of a Makeba classic, Malaika.

Omar Killed Me

This gripping adaptation of a true story had the audience, packed into Katara’s Opera House, on the edge of their seats. Roschdy Zem the French Moroccan director, who walked the red carpet leading into the theatre ahead of the screening, can be proud of doing justice to this emotional tale , which follows the investigation of a Moroccan gardner wrongly convicted for murdering his employer.

The Help

Kathryn Stockett , the author of The Help, held a book club early this evening for Qatar’s ambitious female writers.

Around 30 listened intently while clutching their Arabic and English versions of the book, a story which has been adapted into a film playing this week at DTFF starring Emma Stone and directed by Tate Taylor.

The American writer, who speaks with a thick southern accent, said her book was rejected 60 times by publishers over a period of three years.
We’ve picked some highlights during a Q&A session, where the audience had the chance to probe the author about her first novel, which took five years to write.

Q) What do you do when you lose patience writing something and are unable to finish?
A) You keep pushing. The fact that you can’t finish instead of can’t start is in your favour. You don’t have to finish everything…Try and write from lots of different perspectives, from a man or a woman’s perspective.

Q) What inspired you to become a writer?
A)I don’t think it’s a choice you make…I was reading everything I could get my hands on.

Q) How did it feel being rejected so many times?
A) It was my first novel and it got rejected the first 20 times because it wasn’t ready. It wasn’t a great story. Every rejection made me go back to the page. I did that for years and years and I don’t know why that final agent took it. I think she felt sorry for me. I had three years of rejection, and it was bought in two weeks. That makes me want to tell you to keep going, send it out to publishers just one more time.

Q) Why does the book differ from the movie in certain places?
A) There were too many stories for Tate to tackle. He had to take some strains out to make a pure story. He calls it baby-killing! Tate did a really great job, giving it an impact.

Q) What advice would you give to writers?
A) Take your time. Read as much as you can. You won’t believe the ideas you can steal from other writers.

Omar Amiralay Masterclass

Today is peppered with tributes for the legendary Omar Amiralay, the late Syrian filmmaker and social activist. We held a free Masterclass earlier, to give an insight into the life and work of someone we consider one of the greatest documentary makers the region has produced. Everyday life in a Syrian village, a film which is still banned in Syria to this day, remains one of the most important contributions to non-fiction in Arab cinema and was screened after the discussion. A tribute and reception will be held later, in his honor.