Highlights

Time has flown by and somehow we’ve reached the end of the DTFF’s inaugural day. Hend and Lama are still reeling with excitement after the epic Black Gold world premiere. As thousands leave Katara to catch some sleep before Day Two begins, they are here to take you through today’s highlights.

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Day 1 Red Carpet in Pictures Click here.

The stars lit up Katara today in the most glamorous opening night Doha has witnessed in the history of DTFF. Tahar Rahim, the French Algerian actor we have all been waiting for, arrived to attend the international premiere of “Black Gold”, a movie co-produced by DFI. Along with his co-stars, he walked the red carpet leading to the huge open air theatre in Katara, a temporary cinema which has been being built for over one month.

Tweets and quotes of Day #1:

• Black Gold producer, Tarak Ben Ammar, speaking before the epic movie premiered: “This is the first time in film history that two Arab countries, thanks to their people and a great international director, have put on the screen the Arab heart, the Arab soul.”

• @AilynAgonia tweeted a memorable quote from Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki: “I am interested in human nature in general. Perhaps I feel more authentic talking about women because I know their feelings : NadineLabaki #DTFF11”

• The simplicity of @hun321’s tweet caught our eye. “Doha Tribeca Film Festival =D”

• Unsurprisingly, Freida Pinto’s wardrobe created a twitter buzz. @evitarose said: “she looks so cuuuuuttee!!! >>> Freida Pinto In Salvatore Ferragamo”

Welcome Lunch

There is nothing like a good lunch to fuel the festival guests who have flown in from around the world. Fascinating filmmakers, directors, jurors and leaders from the Doha Film institute gathered today and spoke to us about what makes DTFF such an important event on the industry’s calendar.

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Shankaboot Comes to the Social Media Lounge

Makers of the world’s first Arabic language web drama series, Shankaboot, have given our team in the Social Media Lounge a huge exclusive tonight. The Lebanese filmmakers are set to take their Emmy award winning series to four countries soon! Later this week, they will hold a workshop in our new Lounge.

The Social Media Lounge is this year’s new hub for filmmakers, the DTFF crew and guests to mingle, tweet and post updates online. There are four large screens carrying a livestream of Facebook comments and tweets about the festival with the #DTFF11 hashtag, so when there is an exclusive like today’s news, the online community can join the conversation.