Team Qatar by Liz Mermin (top); Hiam Abbass in Najwa Najjar's Pomegranates and Myrrh (bottom)
Doha Tribeca Film Festival Executive Director Amanda Palmer and Robert De Niro handed out two audience awards, worth US$50,000 each, at the festival's closing night gala on Nov. 1. Coincidentally, both winning films were directed by women.
British filmmaker Liz Mermin's documentary Team Qatar, which chronicles the creation of that country's first debate team, was awarded Best Festival Film, while Palestinian Najwa Najjar's debut feature, Pomegranates and Myrrh (talk about a poetic title), was chosen the Best Arab Film.
Starring Hiam Abbass (who deserves a best actress Oscar nod for Lemon Tree), Pomegranates and Myrrh revolves around a Palestinian woman torn between being faithful to her husband (Ashraf Farah), a prisoner of Israel's occupying forces, and her attraction to her folk dance trainer (Ali Suliman of both Paradise Now and Lemon Tree).
Another female filmmaker, Sophia Al Maria, received the prize for Best 1 Minute Film: The Racer.
“There is a potential market for Arabic films and this award motivates filmmakers to make films in Arabic or with Arabic subject matter, with a universal appeal,” remarked DTTF Community Outreach Programmer Scandar Copti, whose Ajami, which he co-directed with Yaron Shani, recently won the Israeli Academy's best feature film Ophir Award and is Israel's submission for the 2010 best foreign language film Academy Award.
The first Doha Tribeca Film Festival ran Oct 29-Nov. 1. Thirty-one films were in competition for the top prizes.
Photos: Shourq Harb (Pomegranates and Myrrh), Adrian Haddad (Team Qatar). Courtesy of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.
