The Abu Dhabi based Veritas Films has announced today that Mahmoud Kaabour, the writer and director of the multi-award winning documentary
“Teta, Alf Marra” (Grandma, a Thousand Times) is to lead a special panel on Arab cinema at the tenth Annual Tribeca Film Festival, New York.
The panel will invite discussion on the development and current status of the Arab film industry, following a special event screening of “Teta, Alf Marra” on April 25th , which marks the North American premiere of the film. Tribeca’s special events are a prestigious and highly publicized series which will also feature Ron Howard, Robert de Niro and Martin Scorsese this year.
The invitation to speak at the Tribeca Film Festival is yet another glowing accolade for Abu Dhabi’s Veritas Films; “Teta, Alf Marra” has been garnering rave reviews internationally with sold out screenings in Tunis, Rotterdam, and Damascus as well as two Audience Awards for Best Documentary from Doha Tribeca Film Festival and DOX BOX Film Fest. The film was recently chosen to open Mathaf: Arab Museum for Modern Arts and Mahmoud Kaabour was nominated for The Best Arab Filmmaker Award at Doha Tribeca.
Talking on his invitation to lead the panel Mahmoud Kaabour, founder of Veritas Films, said: “This is a triumph and a massive responsibility. To represent the Arab world’s budding industry is a humbling honour, especially as change sweeps across the region and tunes the world’s eyes more closely to our cinematic offerings. It’s a testimony to Arab cinema’s massive and global appeal which I hope will invite more investment in it here in the UAE.”
“Teta, Alf Marra” will be released theatrically in Lebanon starting from April 14th and in the UAE at select theaters before summer. The film is a poetic documentary that puts Kaabour’s feisty Beiruti grandmother at the center of brave film exercises that commemorate her many worlds before they are erased by the passage of time and her eventual death. The 48-minute film, a UAE/Qatar/Lebanon co-production, was made by the financial support of the Doha Film Institute and Screen Institute Beirut. It also marked the first film to be made by Veritas Film’s new Abu Dhabi office at twofour54, Abu Dhabi’s dedicated content creation community.
To view the film’s trailer please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpvOKewvlgs
For more on the film and its future screenings internationally, please follow Teta, Alf Marra on facebook at http://tinyurl.com/32awls6 and on twitter @TetaAlfMarra.