Academy Award-winning actor Robert de Niro (fourth left) looks on as Team Qatar director Liz Mermin (second left) and some of the cast members receive the cash award for best film at the concluding ceremony of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival at the Museum of Islamic Art grounds last night. The cheque was presented by an official of Commercialbank, one of the signature partners of the inaugural DTFF. PICTURE: Jayaram

An inspiring documentary about Qatar’s first national high school debate team, Team Qatar, directed by Liz Mermin, won the Audience Award for Best Film on the closing night of the inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) yesterday. 
Pomegranates and Myrrh, a beautiful love story starring Hiam Abbass, picked up the Audience Award for Best Arab Film.
The festival, a partnership between Tribeca Enterprises and the Qatar Museums Authority, wrapped up at the same venue, where it began last Thursday – the internationally acclaimed I M Pei- designed Museum of Islamic Art. 
Thousands massed on the palm-dotted museum grounds for an outdoor screening of acclaimed Egyptian film Cairo Time and a massive fireworks display, capping four days of great films, community-building, celebrity spotting, family fun and education programming.
The closing night awards ceremony brought Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert de Niro to town.  In addition to handing out the Audience Awards, he also announced the Most Promising Film-maker award winner – Sophia Al-Maria, for her one-minute film The Racer.  Al Maria’s film was created this summer as part of a DTFF workshop on the craft of filmmaking.
“Almost one year ago, we made an announcement to launch this festival,” de Niro recalled. “This has been an unforgettable and richly rewarding journey as we created an innovative partnership to build an event worthy of this wonderful and dynamic city.”