Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Eagle Huntress and The Salesman have won best film awards in different categories of the Ajyal competition, Doha Film Institute (DFI) has announced.
Ajyal Jurors voted in three categories – Mohaq (aged eight to 12 years), Hilal (13 to 17 years) and Bader (18 to 21 years) – at the recently-held fourth Ajyal Youth Film Festival.
The winners were honoured at the closing night ceremony, which was followed by the Mena premiere of The Red Turtle (France, Japan), directed by Academy Award-winning Dutch animator Michael Dudok de Wit.
In the Mohaq category, Hunt for the Wilderpeople (New Zealand) by Taika Waititi was named the best film while Riceballs (Australia) by Shingo Usami won the best short award.
In Hilal, The Eagle Huntress (Mongolia, UK, US) by Otto Bell won the best film title with King’s Day (The Netherlands) by Steven Wouterlood named the best short.
Finally, in the Bader category, The Salesman (Iran, France) by Asghar Farhadi was recognised as the best film, while Mariam (France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) by Faiza Ambah was adjudged the best short. The concluding day saw renowned actress Meg Ryan addressing the Ajyal Jurors about her first feature-length directorial debut Ithaca (US), a film that underlines the power of speaking out clearly against a world forever embroiled in conflict.
DFI noted that there were 38 films in the Ajyal competition this year; four feature-length films and nine shorts in the Mohaq programme, five feature-length films and six shorts in Hilal, and five feature-length films and nine shorts in Bader.
Each of the Ajyal juries voted for the best film prize for their favourite short and feature-length films, for a total of six awards.
Earlier, the festival awarded the winners in the Made in Qatar programme, which included 17 films by Qatari directors and those who call Qatar home.
The winners are Kashta by AJ al-Thani, best narrative; Amer: An Arabian Legend by Jassim al-Rumaihi, best documentary; Al-Johara by Nora al-Subai, special jury award; and More Than Two Days by Ahmed Abdelnaser, honorary jury award.
This year, the festival featured the first Ajyal Talks, a series of open discussions with social influencers. Khaled Khalifa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Regional Representative to the States of the GCC, led a discussion on ‘Why Refugees Matter’ on the current global displacement crisis with a focus on the situation of Syrian refugees.
Mohamed al-Hajji, who led the Ajyal Talks on ‘Ten Things I Learned in my Twenties’, said social media has a transformational impact on how content is produced for television and film.
Some of the winners at the award ceremony.
