Articles and Interviews from the Doha Tribeca Film Festival

The Doha Tribeca Film Festival took place over the weekend with Cairo Time serving as the closing film. Alexander Siddig, Patricia Clarkson, and Ruba Nadda attended to take part in a press conference as well as a couple of screenings. We’ve posted lots of photos from the weekend in the Gallery, and bring you a few excerpts from interviews below.

From Qatar’s Gulf Times:

“This event will not only create dialogue between the Arab world and the West, but it will also create a dialogue with each other in the region, which is more important,” [Siddig] argued.

Siddig highlighted the importance of film in crossing cultural boundaries: “When you watch a film and you see an Arab man being portrayed, you can say you have met an Arab.  You may not have met him in person, but you have got to know him through the film.”

“That is why it is so important that characters are done well and properly, because they are essentially introducing people to others through film,” he added.

From IndieWire:

Also set in the Egyptian capital, Canadian-Arab filmmaker Ruba Nadda’s “Cairo Time,” starring Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson and veteran Sudanese actor Alexander Siddig (“Syriana”) received a high profile slot at DHFF,  closing the event on Sunday. Both Clarkson and Siddig along with Nadda met journalists this weekend to discuss the film, which had its first screening at Doha’s beautiful Museum of Islamic Art on Friday night. Festival guests, including what appeared to be a chunk of Western expats and locals, many in traditional dress, crowded into the theater for the film, which a sign warned was for “18 and over.”