The second Doha Tribeca Film Festival (Oct 26-30) has announced its lineup, kicking off with Rachid Bouchareb’s Algerian drama Outside The Law and closing with Justin Chadwick’s The First Grader, about a farmer learning to read in Kenya.

The festival this year starts its new Arab Film Competion, which will include four world premieres: Grandma, A Thousand Times by Mahmoud Kaabour, Hawi by Ibrahim El Batout, Man Without a Cellphone by Sameh Zoabi and The Mountain by Ghassan Salhab.

The other six titles in the Arab competition are: Balls (Farsan) by Josef Fares; Itto Titrit by Mohamed Abbazi; The Mosque (A Jamaa) by Daoud Aoulad; My Name is Ahlam (Esmi Ahlam) by Rima Essa; Once Upon Our Time (Un Conte de Faits) by Hichem Ben Ammar; and The Quarter of Scarecrows (Garaqi Daholakan) by Hassan Ali Mahmood.

The 30 titles in the World Panorama section will include Taika Waititi’s Boy, Julia Bacha’s Budrus, Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies,  Matt Reeves’Let Me In, Julian Schnabel’s Miral, Stephen Frears’ Tamara Drewe, Francois Ozon’s Potiche, Aktan Abdykalykov’s The Light Thief, Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, Randall Wallace’s Secretariat, Nigel Cole’s Made In Dagenham, Robert Redford’s The Conspirator, Debs Gardner Paterson’s Africa United, Burhan Qurbani’s Shahada, and Ahmed Ahmed’s Just Like Us.

Special Screenings will include Franz Osten’s A Throw Of Dice (Prapancha Pash) with an orchestra accompaniment led by Nitin Sawhney.

This year’s festival grows from 31 films to about 50.

The 2010 programming team led by Amanda Palmer expanded this year to include Arab programmers Scandar Copti and Hania Mroue, who worked alongside Tribeca Enterprises’ Geoffrey Gilmore, David Kwok and Genna Terranova and other international consultants.

“Our first year proved that local audiences more than embraced cinema,” said Palmer, who noted that first-year attending filmmakers and industry spread the word about Doha.

“I certainly think that we’ve had a robust year, expanding the programming team into something of a super team and starting the Arab Film Competition,” said Palmer, who serves as executive director of the Doha Film Institute.

Of the new Arab competition, she told Screen: “At the beginning of the year there was a vacuum of information, so we had to work really hard to track a lot of projects. But more came through in final weeks, so of course difficult selections had to be made in the end, as with any festival programme. I’m really excited at the diversity of talent we’re showing.”

This year’s festival as a whole received more than 300 submissions from over 50 countries, Copti noted. He said: “As an Arab filmmaker, I am very proud to welcome four world premieres that will give our international audience an insider’s look at modern realities around the region, and help emerging and established filmmakers get the support they deserve.”

Prizes for Best Arab Film and Best Arab Filmmaker will each come with $100,000 prizes. he festival’s audience awards for best narrative and best documentary also carry $100,000 each. New this year, the Best Arab Short Film will receive $10,000.

The festival has expanded from four to five days this year. The 2010 fest will include expanded industry events, and visiting industry guests can also boost educational events for local film-makers

The festival is a cultural partnership between Doha Film Institute and Tribeca Enterprises.

The event’s new hub, Katara, is located on the eastern coast of Doha, and will play host to screenings (both inside and open-air) and other events such as panel discussions, VIP events, Q&As, a Family Day.

“It’s a real festival experience, we go beyond the films to also show the culture of this country,” Palmer noted.

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