By Salman Siddiqui/Staff Reporter

One of the main goals of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival is to promote local talent and give them a platform to showcase their stories through filmmaking.
In a meet the press programme titled ‘Made in Qatar’, Ajyal introduced to the media, filmmakers from Qatar, who presented the concepts of their short films being screened at the festival.
Eighteen year old Amal Ahmed al-Muftah explained that her film al-Kora was the story of a brother and a sister, who attempt to retrieve a lost football in an old Qatari village.
She was thankful to DFI for giving her an opportunity to screen her short film and said that she was thrilled to have had an interesting filmmaking experience.
She said that at times it was difficult to balance schoolwork and making a film, she was happy that she was able to deliver a film.
Amal grew up in Al Wakrah and studied films at Qatar Academy. She has also directed a documentary for THIMUN festival at the Northwestern University in Qatar.
Dana An Natsheh was born in Doha and has worked at al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival and the Doha Film Festival. Sweet Violence is her first ever film, which is about a young girl trying to cope with her parents’ domestic quarrels. She too appreciated DFI and Ajyal, and hoped to make more films in the future.
Ali al Mehdi’s film Razfa is about a teenage Qatari boy’s attempt to emulate the achievements of his father.
The young Qatari has produced four short films already and hoped that he would get a chance to make a full length feature film in the future.   
Meanwhile, Education Above All Foundation (EAA) presented French writer and director Pascal Plisson’s documentary film On the Way to School (Sur le chemin de l’école) at the Ajyal Youth Film Festival yesterday.
EAA Chief Executive Officer Marcio Barbosa commented: “Seeing the struggles that children face to access education shows why we do what we do and what it means to these children. In our hearts and minds the film bridges the gap between our programmes and our beneficiaries and aligns with our vision to support access to education for all.”