IN PICTURES: Doha Tribeca 2010
The stars were in attendance and the weather was behaving itself as the second annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) kicked off with much aplomb, as global celebrities strutted their stuff on the red carpet, much to the excitement of screaming fans.
The biggest star of the night, perhaps, was Hollywood actress-producer Salma Hayek, who also happens to be a jury member for the DTFF Arab Film Competition. Yet, while the Latina stunner added understated glamour in a bright blue shift dress at a lunch event, somehow the gold and black Alexander McQueen just seemed too tame for the opening night of a film festival.
Perhaps Hayek should have taken a page out of DFI’s Executive Director Amanda Palmer’s fashion bible, as she stunned onlookers in a floor-length, midnight black Stephane Rolland, who was also in attendance.
Upping the oomph factor on the red carpet was Hayek’s newfound BFF, India’s Mallika Sherawat – if you recall, the duo let their hair down and painted the pretty seaside city of Cannes red during the French film festival earlier this year.
And while shockingly-conservative-for-a-change Sherawat continued to flash the ‘V’ for victory sign on the red carpet, sadly that gesture just did not stand ground when one glanced at the critics’ report of her recently released debacle, “Hissss”.
The Bollywood star, who rumour has it, was wearing a relatively new Turkish designer last night, still found time on the red carpet to tweet and upload pictures on microblogging site, Twitter, saying: “Pic from the Doha/Tribecca Film Fest in Qatar:) Wotya think of d dress.”
Arabian night
Egypt’s finest were also there to charm onlookers, with the legendary actor Adel Imam leading the way, along with jury president Yosra, who dressed for her age, unlike her counterpart, Lebleba.
As predicted, Emirates 24|7’s 2010 festival favourite, Lebleba, also strutted her stuff on the red carpet after showing up at the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Film Festival last week. And while we were disappointed that Khaled Abol Naga was not there to flash his sexy smile, the gorgeous Basma Hassan charmed in a fitting sea green satin gown; wish we could have grabbed her to nab the name of her designer.
Other notable celebs from Arabia, Africa and Levant included Ragna El Guedani, Palestinian actor Yasmine Al Massri, Tunisian singer Latifa, TV Presenter and actress Bosy Shalaby and American/Egyptian director and comedian Ahmed Ahmed.
We, of course, got a kick out of the sight where our cameras caught local celebrity and Showtime find, Wonho Chung, the Korean stand-up comedian who speaks Arabic better than many Arabs we know, signing autographs for screaming fans. The boy wasn’t too badly dressed either, in a tuxedo-kandoora fusion design that had the fashion police cheering from the aisles and from up in our Dubai offices at his nod to his cosmopolitan roots.
Festive fanfare
Bosnian director/screenwriter Danis Tanović, Indian directors Mira Nair and Bhavna Talwar, China’s gorgeous star Xiao Min, renowned French photographer Brigitte Lacombe and American actor William Schimmel, all also showed up to catch the Middle Eastern premiere of award-winning French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb’s “Outside the Law”.
Aside from the director himself, the film’s producer Jean Brehat was all smiles at the outstanding response the opening gala received post screening.
In a statement Bouchareb said: ““Outside the Law” is not just about the Algerian struggle for independence, it also explores how an individual’s culture is integral to their sense of identity and belonging in the world, a universal theme...”
In addition to “Outside the Law”, other notable films being screened at DTFF, which ends October 30, include John Curran’s “Stone”, Ahmed Ahmed’s “Just like Us”, Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy”, Julian Schnabel’s “Miral”, and Justin Chadwick’s “The First Grader”.
Indian films will also have a presence at this year’s festival including Ram Gopal Varma’s “Rakha Charitra”, Vikramaditya Motwane’s “Udaan”, and the 1929 black and white classic “Throw of Dice”, which will feature a special live score by Nitin Sawhney and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.