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29 March 2024

Robert DeNiro, Kevin Spacey expected in Doha

Robert DeNiro (SUPPLIED)

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By Bindu Suresh Rai

As the curtains closed on the star-studded Abu Dhabi Film Festival on Saturday, it is now Qatar’s turn to reel in the celebrities at this week’s Doha Tribeca Film Festival, which kicks off on Tuesday.

Emirates 24|7 can now confirm that legendary Oscar-winning actor Robert DeNiro will be attending DTFF and will be conducting the masterclass: Little Fockers: Development and Evolution of the “Meet The Parents” Franchise.

The actor and Tribeca co-founder will be joined by the film’s producer and his colleague in the festival, Jane Rosenthal, to discuss the film franchise and give attendee a sneak peek into the upcoming, “Little Fockers”.
The event will take place on October 30, from 4pm at the Katara Festival Centre, Doha.

Also expected to jet in is the Oscar-winning Kevin Spacey, who is expected to grace the red carpet for his film, “Casino Jack”. However, no confirmation was yet forthcoming from DTFF.

Earlier, the website had reported that Salma Hayek Pinault and Frieda Pinto were the other big Hollywood names in attendance, along with Egyptian star Yousra who will be the President of the Arab Film Competition Jury.

While there is no big Bollywood turnout this year at DTFF, the director of “Rakta Chartira”(currently playing in UAE cinemas), Ram Gopal Varma, is expected to make an appearance. It was also speculated that Mallika Sherwat would slither her way into the festival with her film “Hisss”, but looking at the film’s reviews over the weekend, it would be a miracle if the actress’ career would survive this debacle.

The other notable names from Lebanon include actress Carmen Lebbos and Hassan Mrad, who will be attending for their film, “Here Comes The Rain”.

This is the second coming of the five-day long DTFF, which kicked off last year with a purpose to serve the local community. This year, the festival, along with the Doha Film Institute, has introduced several outreach programmes to unearth new talent in the region with one-minute film workshops, competitions to determine local stand-up comedy talent who can then tour with Arab-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed, and also organised a series of masterclasses with Hollywood A-listers to hone creativity in Qatar.