A still from Salesman.
Fourteen feature films from across the globe are competing at the fourth annual Ajyal Youth Film Festival from November 30 to December 5 at Katara Cultural Village.
These include festival winners and Academy Award submissions, that cover themes and issues impacting youth in Qatar and around the world.
Fatma Al Remaihi, Festival Director and CEO of Doha Film Institute, said: “The feature films in-competition at Ajyal are indeed some of the finest works in world cinema today. They are all poignant takes on life that inspire and move you with real-life and fictional tales. Through stories of nature, human emotions, familial bonding and fantasy takes, these films are sure to engage our Ajyal jurors, and make a positive impact on their lives.”
“The selection also celebrates excellence in world cinema today and includes films from acclaimed filmmakers such as Ken Loach, Gianfranco Rosi, Asghar Farhadi and Taika Waititi, who are some of the most powerful voices within the international film community,” she added.
Youth participation is at the heart of the Festival and its jury programme, provides young people between the ages of 8 and 21 an opportunity to watch, analyse and discuss films from all over the world, developing critical thinking, self-expression, and an appreciation of cinema.
The Ajyal Competition categories include Mohaq (New Moon in Arabic), Ajyal’s youngest jurors, aged 8 to 12. Ajyal’s jurors aged 13 to 17 comprise the Hilal jury (Crescent Moon in Arabic) and Bader (Arabic for ‘Full Moon’) jurors are aged 18 to 21. All jurors watch feature and short films specially curated for their age groups, and each of the three juries award a Best Film prize in both categories.
Four films are screening in Mohaq section including Hunt for the Wilderpeople (New Zealand/2016) directed by Taika Waititi, Kai (South Korea/2016) by Lee Sung-gang,
Listen to the Silence (Georgia, Qatar/2016) by Mariam Chachia, and Secret Society of Souptown (Estonia, Finland/2015) by Margus Paju.
Five films compete in the Hilal section: Enclave (Serbia, Germany/2015) by Goran Radovanovi?, Sonita (Iran, Germany, Switzerland/2015) by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, The Eagle Huntress (Mongolia, UK, USA/2016) by Otto Bell, Twice Upon a Time (Lebanon/2016) by Niam Itani, and The World of Us (South Korea/ 2016) by Yoon Ga-eun.
The Bader segment includes five films: Fatima (France/2015) by Philippe Faucon; Fire at Sea (Italy, France/2016) by Gianfranco Rosi; I, Daniel Blake (UK, France, Belgium / 2016) by Ken Loach; Life, Animated (USA, France/2016) by Roger Ross Williams; and The Salesman directed by Asghar Farhadi. Tickets priced QR25 are available for purchase 24 hours a day at ajyalfilm.com or from Ajyal Katara Main Box Office in Katara Building 12 or Ajyal FNAC Ticket Outlet, FNAC Qatar at Lagoona Mall.
