Qatar's local art community stand to benefit from an interactive art exhibit at the eighth edition of Ajyal Film Festival, aimed at celebrating the country’s resilience and ability to overcome big challenges.
Hosted by Katara – the Cultural Village at building 19, ‘[Re]action’ is set to showcase the works of local artists from November 29 to December 3, focusing on how a nation continues to strengthen and grow even in times of adversity.
Ajyal will run from November 28 to December 3 at Katara.
“We are proud of this art exhibit, it shows not only the resilience of the people of Qatar, post-blockade, but also the country’s achievements and how it improved after of all these circumstances,” Doha Film Institute's chief administrative officer and Ajyal deputy director Abdulla al-Musallam told reporters on Sunday.
Last year, this exhibition featured simple yet powerful artworks and short films by individuals who were motivated to speak up against an unfair treatment and injustice levelled against their nation.
Several artworks such as paintings, installations, caricatures and photographs in this multi-media show depicted positive messages about Qatar’s wise leadership, unity, religiosity, strength, and resilience.
Besides ‘[Re]action’, Ajyal will also bring back ‘Geekdom’ as part of its Creativity Hub, along with the ‘Ajyal Stage’.Al-Musallam noted that ‘Geekdom,’ dubbed as Qatar’s largest pop-culture event, will hold in this edition “a cool cosplay day”, edge-of-your-seat video game tournaments, and three film screenings from the renowned Japanese animation company studio Ghibli: ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service,’ ‘My Neighbour Totoro,’ and ‘Spirited Away.’
He also cited the growing community of Anime enthusiasts who are taking part at Geekdom this year.
“The problem is we are on the same space and the applicants keep on increasing and we are seeing more talents and people in this segment of the population.
Last year we saw more than 9,000 coming in everyday and this is a huge number,” al-Musallam stressed.“Hopefully we’ll have a bigger space for next year.”
According to some Qatari artists who were taking part in the ‘Colour Bar’ exhibition at Katara in August, the growing popularity of cartoons and animation (popularly known as anime), especially Japanese, is making Qatar’s art scene even more vibrant, creating a huge community of artists, cosplayers and enthusiasts.
Meanwhile, the Ajyal Stage will once again bring musicians, dancers and artistes from around the world to entertain and enthrall festival-goers for three days, from November 29 to December 1 at the Katara esplanade.

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