DOHA: Doha Film Institute (DFI) is set to reveal a new film festival format after it announced yesterday the conclusion of its four-year partnership with New York-based Tribeca Enterprises.
“It was a rewarding experience to work with Tribeca Enterprises, and we will draw on this rich learning to create a new format for DFI’s film festival initiatives starting this year,” said DFI CEO Abdulaziz Al Khater.
DFI will announce the new format at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival this month.
“Through the past four editions of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, which were organised in cultural partnership with Tribeca Enterprises, we achieved our fundamental goals of creating a vibrant grassroots film industry in Qatar. We are thankful to them for their invaluable insights that helped elevate the film festival initiative of DFI to a truly global level,” said Al Khater.
The new festival format, Al Khater said, would focus both on regional and global filmmaking talents.
“We are defining a new niche for the film festival, which will serve as a platform for strengthening a home-grown film industry as well as continuing to build our international relationships to promote Qatar as a cultural hub,” he said.
A statement from the Tribeca Enterprises said: “We partnered with Doha Film Institute to help launch an event that would create a sustainable foundation for the growth of a film community and industry in Qatar and the Middle East. As exemplified by DTFF, we share a common goal with DFI: to engage, entertain and inspire in equal measure in a region with a profound and growing interest in film. After four years of successful cultural partnership, the festival has grown immensely and reflects our mutual vision for an event to promote cultural understanding and community through film and education. We are proud of everything DFI and Tribeca have achieved together, and we wish DFI the very best as they move forward with their festival and year-round initiatives.” The Peninsula
