The 9th Annual Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival will commence tonight at 7pm at the Sheraton Doha.
The event, which runs from April 18th to April 21, will showcase 205 films from 33 different countries, including work from Mozambique and Cyprus for the first time. The selected films are all competing for cash prizes of up to QR50,000.
Screenings are free, and open to all. A full film schedule is here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIXYIyReFOk]The opening ceremony will be held at 7pm tonight (and can be watched via a livestream here), after which the festival’s opening film, Appointment, by Chinese Director Zhe Zhang, will be shown.
Appointment is a love story about a deaf, talented boy and a beautiful girl he grew up with, who are separated and then meet again several years later.
Qatari film Flight 13 by Director Ahmad Bukamal will also be screened tonight. It tells the story of a team from the Al Jazeera Sports Channel who narrowly escaped with their lives while flying in a private jet during the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
The theme for this year’s festival is “Windows:”
“Each picture we see in the participating documentaries metaphorically resembles an “open window” to a world that is rich in art and culture” says Abbas Arnaout, Director of the festival.
More information of the festival can be found on its Twitter and Facebook pages.
Thoughts?
Credit: Image courtesy of the AJ Film Festival on Facebook