The 2010 Doha Film Festival was the first event held at Katara Village, a newly constructed facsimile of an Arab village, albeit a rather opulent one, with the Royal Opera House and a white marble amphitheatre in the Greek style for an audience of a couple of thousand. This latter had never been inaugurated and we were unable to use it, other than a centrepiece with fabulous architectural lighting. So I designed another amphitheatre, built from the ground up, for 2000 people, functioning as both an outdoor cinema and fully functioning stage space with an extensive covered and air-conditioned backstage area. The stage in front of the screen was adaptable to accommodate a full orchestra to accompany the premier of a silent movie on opening night. Additionally there were multiple tented and built structures created as screening rooms for upwards of 200 people arrayed throughout the site. There was also a red carpet area at the main entrance to Katara which led to the Opera House.
