Despite intense economic challenges and a precipitous cut in cultural funding, the Palm Beach International Film Festival, one of the best regional festivals on the circuit, is persevering with an exciting program planned for later this month. Longtime Festival honcho Randi Emerman continues to push on for quality and diversity for local audiences in Palm Beach County, an area on Florida's southeast coast that perhaps has the greatest disparity between wealth and poverty in the nation...

Hawi won Best Arab Film and Balls picked up the award for Best Arab Filmmaker in recognition for its screenplay at the second Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) which came to a dramatic end at the Closing Night Gala and open-air concert by superstar Ragheb Alama along the Arabian Gulf at Katara Cultural Village.The First Grader and Grandma, A Thousand Times won the Audience Awards for Best Narrative Film and Best Documentary Film. The prize for Best Arab Short Film went to Sirwar Zirkly’s Missi...