The German embassy in Qatar and Goethe-Institut Gulf Region are contributing to the fifth Ajyal Youth Film Festival as part of Qatar Germany 2017.
Five German film professionals will visit the festival and present their films. The event runs until December 4.
The programme of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival includes 20 features and 83 shorts, including one German feature film and three short films.
Ina Werner, who works for the TV channel ZDF as a commissioning editor in the department for fictional films focusing on children’s programmes, is presenting German feature film At Eye Level by Joachim Dollhoff and Evi Goldbrunner at Ajyal. The film, which screens at 9pm today in Katara Building 12, depicts the story of 10-year-old Michi who never knew his father and has lived for five years since the tragic death of his mother in a group home for orphaned children. Two German short films have been selected to screen in the shorts programme, Another Reality at Katara Opera House from 9.45pm today.
Katja Benrath travels to Doha to present her short film All of Us that is based on a true story set in Kenya, featuring inter-religious conflicts and how to overcome these in times of danger.
Then, Train to Peace by Jakob Weyde and Jost Althoff will be screened as part of the same shorts programme. It is being represented at the festival by Althoff and Max Philipp Glauner, who has edited the film — which is about an Iraqi man riding a train in Berlin thinking about his nation’s recent past.
The short animation, A Wonderful Nature – The Common Chameleon by Tomer Eshedis will be screened as part of the shorts programme Journey into Life at Katara Opera House on Monday, December 4, at 4pm.
The film on an insatiably hungry chameleon that lazes on a tree branch in the forest is represented at Ajyal by its sound designer, Michal Krajczok.
Qatar Germany 2017 Year of Culture is a yearlong programme designed to deepen understanding between nations through the mutual exchange of arts, culture, heritage and sports, developed by Qatar Museums in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, the German embassy in Qatar and the embassy of Qatar in Germany.