It was 5 days jam packed with surreal experiences, painful moments, incredible triumphs, and most importantly, great films.
Opening night was a star studded event that kicked off the festival with a massive red carpet and a screening of Rachid Bouchareb's "Outside the Law". The gigantic open air theatre that was erected for the festival was packed. Every seat was filled. The film was pretty good. Lots of action and explosions. The casting was the best part about it.
After the film was completed, we headed over to the Pearl for the Opening Night Party. It was an amazing set up with food, drinks, a live band, and a place to meet up with all the guests we hosted throughout the year.
Day 2 was kicked off with a panel about Maisha FIlmmaking Labs and collaboration in film. On the panel was our good friends Sabrina Dahwan, Sandi Sissel, Ziad Dourei, Mira Nair, and was mediated by our very own Ritesh Batra.
Following the panel, we hosted all of our students and mentors from every course we ran over the past year, for lunch. It was a really nice thing to see - all of the people we worked with and helped all in one place.
Day 3 was maybe my busiest day. It started with a coffee meeting with Nitin Sawhney and the music video workshop students. He was so generous with his time and sat with us for over an hour discussing everything from inspiration to upcoming projects. Not only is he one of the most talented musicians alive, he also is one of the kindest.
I ran from the coffee meeting to kick off the acting workshop with Kevin Spacey. The 30+ students/actors involved received the treat of a lifetime with this workshop. Kevin involved everyone and really engaged each actor individually. When the workshop wrapped, it was almost like he didnt want to leave. What an experience that was.
From there, I was on the run again.
I hustled over to the panels hall to catch the Emerging Actors, Emerging Stars panel featuring Tarek Ben Ammar, Ahmed El Attar, Peter Weber, and more. At the panel, Tarek announced the winner of our casting call for Jean Jacques Annuad's new film "Black Gold". We were all over the moon to find out that our very own, Mohammed Al Ibrahim won the role of the Aide de Camp.
After the panel ended, I had a few minutes to breathe before the (hands down) most incredible event of the festival - The screening of "A Throw of Dice" (a 1929 silent film) accompanied by a live score by Nitin Sawhney and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
Jackie Salloum and I got up on stage and introduced the evenings event as well as announced the winner of our music video workshop competition. (Congrats Bayan!)
I was amazed at my ability to NOT make a fool of myself in front of a couple thousand people.
The performance was absolutely unreal! Breathtaking.
Day 4 (Family Day) was insanity.
The Ahmed Ahmed comedy workshop went smoothly even though I couldnt be here for the whole thing. I had to tend to "Direct Your Dad".
When I created this program, I had no idea how popular it would be.
As soon as we opened the doors, we were flooded with kids and parents who wanted to learn the art of making a one minute film. The day was nonstop. By the end of it, I had edited over 80 films and hosted over 300 families! The work load was so huge that we had to shut down the shooting early.
Also, that same day was our One Minute Film Screening event with Robert De Niro, Mira Nair, and Najwa Najjar. The seven best one minute films were screened and judged and the winner was to be announced during the closing night awards ceremony.
At 11pm that night, Ben and I had the hilarious act of introducing Robert Rodriguez's new film; "Machete". The film was absolutely insane. More blood, nudity, and exposition than any film that has ever shown (uncensored) in Doha. A truly historic moment.
Day 5 - the final day was pretty chill for us but nothing short of amazing.
Jackie and I hosted the Nitin Sawhney masterclass in which he talked through his process of scoring films, television, and video games. He and tabla player, Arif Durven even played 4 songs. It was completely amazing to witness.
Following the event, we had our 10 Minute Film premieres. They all played extremely well and we were so very proud of all the work the students put in over the past 7 months to make these films.
At the awards show, Lil Mohammed Al Malek and Noor Ahmed were both awarded best one minute film. This made me so happy I thought I was going to cry. These young filmmakers really make me realize the importance of what we do out here.
By the time the closing night film screened, I was psychically exhausted and went home to fall face first on my bed.The festival drained me but also filled me with so many good memories and instilled me with a new confidence in what we are doing here in Doha.
The future of filmmaking and film culture is alive and well in the desert.
*I will post as many photos and videos as I can scavenge soon
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