Doha, Qatar – The Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) announced plans for a sweeping series of year-round educational programs that will dramatically expand on the Festival’s existing efforts to discover and support emerging filmmakers and to build a film industry in Qatar over the long term.  DTFF revealed details of the programs at a panel devoted to nine Qataris who created one-minute films this past summer as part of a DTFF workshop on the craft of film-making.

The initiatives announced by the Festival are: the creation of the Doha Tribeca Labs for screenwriting and directing, and a reciprocal exchange program between Doha and New York for aspiring filmmakers.  Both programs are manifestations of DTFF’s belief in film as a storytelling vehicle.

“The Doha Tribeca Film Festival is not just about four days,” said Amanda Palmer, DTFF’s executive director.  “It is a year-round commitment.  The start of these bold educational initiatives is a major step toward welcoming new voices to the global film community and to creating a film industry in Qatar in the long term.”

Applications for the first labs for screenwriters and directors will be evaluated by a committee led by Palmer and Geoff Gilmore, chief creative officer at Tribeca Enterprises.  The labs are slated to begin in March 2010.  At next year’s DTFF, awards will be given to one participant in each lab to acknowledge their progress.

The exchange program will bring ten budding filmmakers from the Qatari community to the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and ten aspiring filmmakers from New York to the 2010 DTFF in Qatar.  The application process will begin in January 2010.  Participants at both festivals will receive all-access education badges which grant them a behind-the-scenes look at everything in the festival, from production and directing to financing and programming.  Between festivals, the two groups will remain in close contact and regularly connect throughout the year.

Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert DeNiro was on hand during the announcement of the new year-round programs, and also voiced his support for them.