Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) has announced key members of the team heading up the inaugural 2009 festival.

Amanda Palmer, head of entertainment for Al Jazeera English, has been named DTFF executive director. Palmer will lead the Festival and work with a team from Tribeca that includes Geoffrey Gilmore, chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises, to shape the programme.

Locally the team will include Arab documentary and short films expert Mohamed Maklouf, serving as the festival’s regional programmes advisor, and award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Scandar Copti serving as community outreach programmer.

DTFF will run from October 29 to November 1 and is being produced by Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) in collaboration with the Tribeca Film Festival.

“Our vision is to create a festival that genuinely engages the Qatari people and supports regional filmmakers,” said Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, chairperson of QMA.

“Amanda and Geoff’s experience will help us engage the film world and the Qatari community in an exchange of ideas through the universal language of film,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival.-TradeArabia News Service