Tribeca Film Fest Goes to Qatar

Dubai is getting a Guggenheim Museum, and the Met will stream operas there. Now another local institution is going Middle Eastern: the Qatar Museums Authority will partner with the Tribeca Film Festival to create the Tribeca Film Festival Doha, which will premiere next November. Robert DeNiro and other TFF officials recently announced the new fest at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. DeNiro said he hopes the Festival will "play a role in bridging cultures closer together," and Mayor Bloomberg hoped it "will help foster new relationships between our two cities." Qatar is described as a "liberalized" society -- women have the right to vote and the press is nominally free -- but there are still some vestiges of censorship, so don't expect the new Festival to feature an Islamic version of TFF hit Jesus Camp.