Middle East

Qatar film fest: You Will Die at 20 wins audience award

7th Ajyal Film Festival that began on Nov. 18 concluded with award ceremony on Saturday

Talha Öztürk  | 23.11.2019 - Update : 24.11.2019
Qatar film fest: You Will Die at 20 wins audience award

DOHA, Qatar 

You Will Die at 20, directed by a Sudanese director, won the audience award on Saturday at the 7th Ajyal Film Festival in Qatar's capital Doha. 

Amjad Abu Alala’s film is about a boy cursed by a Dervish prophecy that he will die at the age of 20.

Mariam Al Dubhani’s In the Middle won the best documentary while Falling Leaves by Dimitri Yuri won the best narrative award.

The festival hosted by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) ended with its traditional award ceremony on Saturday evening.

Speaking at the ceremony, Fatma Al Remaihi, the head of the Doha Film Institute, said that the ceremony is the “happiest sad moment”.

"This is the happiest sad moment that we go through every festival. It is happy because we achieved so much during the week-long festival. It is sad because we close another chapter of the story of the Ajyal," said Remaihi.

With the theme "Find Film, Find Life”, some 96 films from 39 countries were screened at the international festival that began on Nov. 18.

During the festival, 23 feature and 73 short films competed for a total of six awards.

The jury which decided the awards for the films was composed of three age groups; the first is aged between 8 to 12, the second 13 to 17, and the third 18 to 21.

The jury aged 8-12 chose Child of the Earth by Claudio Fah as the best short film and 1982 by Oualid Mouaness as the best feature film.

The jury aged 13-17 selected Maradona's Legs by Firas Khoury as the best short film and The Farewell by Lulu Wang as the best feature film.

The jury aged 18-21 chose The Ostrich Politic by Mohamad Houhou as the best short film and For Sama by Edward Watts and Waad Al-Kateab as the best feature film.

Meanwhile, 22 films also competed in Made in Qatar category.

There were over 450 jurors from 45 different nationalities including, Bosnia Herzegovina, Turkey, Italy, and the U.K.

Fifty film entries were from the Arab world and 56 competing filmmakers were women.

The directors of the winning films will be funded for their next films.

Interactive discussions, red carpet events, and community-oriented activities that inspire creative interaction and stimulate cinematic dialogue and discussions also took place during the event.

Ajyar Film Festival aims to encourage young generations towards movie culture.

The event especially focuses on films made locally in Qatar; short films for children as young as four years old; brilliant examples of animation, drama, and comedy and heavy-hitting documentaries for the serious cinephile.

"Ajyal", which is Arabic for "generations", brings people of all ages together through screenings of films from around the world to Doha's Katara Cultural Village.

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