“It’s amazing to be here in a festival for the youth because it’s really a film that’s about and doing something for the new generation,” she told reporters during the red-carpet event yesterday at the opening of Doha Film Institute’s (DFI) sixth edition of Ajyal Film Festival at Katara – the Cultural Village.
The film’s Middle East premiere at the festival was attended by local, regional and international directors, filmmakers, diplomats, dignitaries and other celebrities, including renowned Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly, who starred in Avengers, and Ant-man and the Wasp, among other films.
According to DFI, the screening of the film also builds on the aspirations of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), tasked with delivering proposed tournament venues and projects for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, a first in the Middle East, and coincides with the symbolic handover year of the World Cup from Russia to Qatar.
Arebi is a Libyan-British artist and filmmaker who returned to Libya after the revolution to work and explore her father’s homeland.
She produced various short films, worked extensively in the Mena region as a cinematographer and is a HotDocs Blue Ice and a Sundance Lab fellow. Her artwork has been published in print and exhibited globally.
And alongside her first feature Freedom Fields, she is also producing After A Revolution, in collaboration with Met Film (UK), EIE Film (Italy) and Urban Republic (US).
Freedom Fields, a recipient of the DFI Grants Programme, is a story about hope and sacrifice, and takes audiences on an inspiring journey through the ups and downs of three women. Filmed over five years, Arebi’s 97-minute movie shares the realities of where personal stories of passions and aspirations collide with history in a country in transition.
This year’s edition of Ajyal will screen a total of 81 films from 36 countries, with 44 by women filmmakers, showcasing a diverse programme of 23 features and 58 shorts, including 24 from the Arab world.
Some 14 DFI-supported films will also be screened, including What Walaa Wants, The Man Who Stole Banksy, Weldi and Capharnaum.
The festival is also hosting more than 550 jurors from 55 nationalities, including international jurors from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
At the opening ceremony, Ajyal also paid rich tribute to legendary actors Abdul Aziz Jassim, who passed away recently.
A special ‘Abdul Aziz Jassim Best Actor Award’ has been instituted for the best performance in a film in the ‘Made in Qatar’ presented by Ooredoo programme.