Rachid Bouchareb's “Outside the Law” opened second edition of Annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival
During a press conference at the Villaggio Cineplex in Doha this morning, the Doha Film Institute (DFI) announced the Arab Film Competition, the first 30 titles in the World Panorama section, the Arab Short Film Competition and a Special Screening for the 2nd annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF). This year the Festival, which runs from 26-30 October, will present a rich showcase including 4 world premieres.
Headlining the second edition is award-winning French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb’s action-thriller, Outside the Law. Set against the backdrop of the Algerian struggle for independence from France after WWII, Outside the Law is the tale of three Algerian brothers who lost their family home in France’s 1945 attack on the market town, Setif, and scattered across the globe. The film stars Jamel Debbouze, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Chaffia Boudra, Bernard Blancan and Sabrina Seyvecou.
Outside the Law director Bouchareb said: “I’m deeply honoured and delighted to be opening the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. I look forward to bringing Outside the Law to Middle Eastern audiences and showing them the history of the Algerian struggle for independence. I fully support DFI’s goals towards developing and discovering Arab talent. It is very important for organisations like DFI to exist and to use their resources towards the goal of promoting Arab cinema and filmmaking talent and taking their stories to audiences around the world.”
The five day event will close with Justin Chadwick’s The First Grader, the inspirational story about an elderly farmer in a Kenyan village who wants to enroll in a local school and learn to read. The film stars Naomie Harris and Oliver Litondo.
On being selected as the Closing Night Gala, Chadwick said: “It is a real honour for our film The First Grader to be selected to screen on the closing night of this wonderful festival. We have all heard how exciting, dynamic and important this festival is so we are excited and thrilled to be part of this true celebration of film.”
This year’s Festival features works from both emerging and established directors with genres including comedies, family-oriented films, epics, political biopics, thrillers and documentaries. The DTFF programme will be presented in four distinctive categories: the Arab Film Competition, World Panorama, Special Screenings and the Arab Short Film Competition. Ten films will participate in the Arab Film Competition, four of which are World Premieres: Grandma, A Thousand Times by Mahmoud Kaabour, Hawi by Ibrahim El Batout, Man Without a Cellphone by Sameh Zoabi and The Mountain by Ghassan Salhab.