The sixth Ajyal Film Festival, the annual cinema event hosted by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) from November 28 to December 3 at Katara – the Cultural Village, brings back the ‘Ajyal Stage’ this year with an assortment of family-friendly cinema, live music, spirited dancers, captivating puppet theatre and more. 
Held over three days from November 29 to December 1, the Ajyal Stage comes to life at the Katara esplanade, which will also feature the ‘Sony Cinema Under the Stars.’ 
All the activities at Ajyal Stage are free and open to the public with limited seating available, DFI said.
“Ajyal is ultimately about bringing together our community and offering them an exciting selection of cultural activities that will foster a spirit of unity. All the activities are open for the public and we are looking forward to meaningfully engaging the community with a mix of cinema, music and live performances by international artists,” said DFI CEO and festival director Fatma Hassan al-Remaihi. 
The fun-packed activities at Ajyal Stage will commence with the first Sony ‘Cinema Under the Stars’ open-air screening on November 29 at 6.30pm, with the Qatar premiere of the ‘My Family Tree’ cine-concert programme by Tout-Petits Cinema, a Forum des Images production. 
The programme will present five short films that reveal what brings families together – the memory of happy moments, and all the members of the family tree that extends its branches through time. 
The series will be accompanied live by musicians Alexandre Korovitch, Romain Fleury, Paul Lepicard, Florian Schuegraf and Paul Manfrin, and will please film and music enthusiasts alike.
The five short films that are part of ‘My Family Tree’ programme are: Sparrows Are Baby Pigeons by Nina Bisyrina; Imago by Cédric Babouche; Perche by Raphael Huchon; Sunset Flower Blooming by Yuanyuan Hu; and My Grandfather Was a Cherry Tree by Olga Poliektova and Tatiana Poliektova.
On November 30 at 6.30pm, watch The Gallant Little Tailor, directed by Lotte Reiniger; and at 6.40pm, enjoy ‘A Performance Desperately in Need of an Audience’. On December 1 at 7pm, watch Journey to the Beginning of Time, directed by Karel Zeman.