(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Doha: The 9th Ajyal Film Festival presented by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) returns to offer local film lovers memorable big screen cinema experiences with exciting feature film screenings from November 7 to 13.
The screenings, which are part of the Festival's return to in-person events this year, invite audiences to enjoy transformative cinematic experiences in a safe environment that follows government health guidelines.
Feature films to be presented at Katara Drama Theatre (Building 16) and VOX Cinemas at Doha Festival City:
Winner of the Critics' Week Grand Prize at Cannes, Feathers (France, Egypt, Netherlands, Greece/2021) by Omar El Zohairy, follows an Egyptian wife and mother whose life is reinvented when a magician accidentally turns her authoritarian husband into a chicken.
DFI supported Costa Brava, Lebanon (Lebanon, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Qatar/2021) by Mounia Akl, follows the free-spirited Badri family that escapes the overwhelming pollution and social unrest of Beirut by seeking refuge in a utopic mountain home they built.
Writing with Fire (India/2021) by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, winner of the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival 2021, is about India's only newspaper run by marginalised women who break traditions, redefining what it means to be powerful.
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DFI supported, Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege (Lebanon, France, Qatar/2021) by Abdullah Al Khatib was the winner of the Interreligious Award at Visions du Réel Film Festival 2021, and documents the lives of the besieged inhabitants' in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the world.
Orca (Qatar, Iran/2021) by Sahar Mossayebi, supported by DFI, is about Elham, who is haunted by a traumatic experience and seeking to rediscover herself, finds solace and salvation in the open expanse of water.
Co-financed by DFI, Land of Dreams (USA, Germany, Qatar/2021) by Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari takes place in the near future in a small town in America, an follows an Iranian immigrant who has a personal obsession with trying to capture her interviewees' dreams.
In Not So Friendly Neighbourhood Affair (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey/2021) by Danis Tanović, is about two friends living in the Old Town area of Sarajevo, who run restaurants opposite each other but don't seem overly concerned that they are business competitors till a seemingly harmless courtesy incites major competition.
Captains of Zaatari (Egypt/2021) by Ali El Arabi, best friends Mahmoud and Fawzi, living in Jordan's Za'atari refugee camp after fleeing the war in Syria, who focus their energy on their first love—soccer. When Aspire Academy, arrives to pick players for an international tournament in Qatar, the friends seize their opportunity.
DFI Grantee, School of Hope (Finland, France, Morocco, Qatar/2020) by Mohamed El Aboudi, highlights how in the vast expanse of desert, seasonal rain and snow once supported livestock, but now the drought seems to never end. The film won the Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2021.
Winner of the Grand Prix Award at Cannes, A Hero (Iran, France/2021) by Asghar Farhadi, follows Rahim, who is in jail for incurring a business debt he is unable to repay. Life offers him a gilded opportunity to secure his freedom, albeit at a dubiously immoral price.
Asteroid (Iran/2021) by Mehdi Hoseiniv and Aalipour, winner of the Best Asian Film Award at Fajr International Film Festival, follows Ebrahim, who bears much of the responsibility for his household of five younger siblings and his mother.
Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlin International Film Festival 2021, Brother's Keeper (Turkey/2021) by Ferit Karahan narrates the struggles of Yusuf dealing with the bureaucratic obstacles put up by the school's repressive authorities to try to help his friend.
Winner of the Audience Award at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2021, Dear Future Children (Germany, UK, Austria/2021) by Franz Böhm is a film about the new generation at the heart of a seismic political shift, demonstrated by global protests being on the rise.
Winner of the NETPAC award at Busan, Fighter (South Korea/2020) by Jéro Yun, is about Jina who after a courageous escape from North Korea, that controlled every aspect of her life, awakens a fighting spirit inside her and decides to enter the ring and compete.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at SXSW 2021, Lily Topples the World (USA/2021) by Jeremy Workman, follows 20-year-old Lily Hevesh—the world's greatest domino“toppler” and the only woman in her field.
Playground (Belgium, France/2021) by Laura Wandel won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Un Certain Regard 2021. The film tells the tale of 7-year-old Nora, caught in a conflict of loyalty, and must ultimately try to find her place, torn between the worlds of childhood and adulthood.
Nobody Has to Know (Belgium, UK, France/2021) by Bouli Lanners, follows middle-aged Phil who after a sudden stroke, wakes up with a case of apparent amnesia, with no memories of his past.
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (Japan/2020) by Kotaro Tamura is the story of Tsuneo, a university student who gets a job assisting Josee, an artist whose imagination takes her far beyond her wheelchair. But when the tide turns against them, they push each other to places they never thought possible and inspire a love fit for a storybook.
Poupelle of Chimney Town (Japan/2020) by Yusuke Hirota follows young Lubicchi who meets a friendly monster made of garbage which he names Poupelle. Convinced that“if you believe, you'll find away”, Lubicchi and Poupelle, embark on a daring mission to discover a new world beyond the smoke.
Tickets for the 9th Ajyal Film Festival are available for purchase online at ajyalfilm.com , with the exception of screenings at VOX cinemas for which tickets can be purchased directly from the VOX box office.
Prices vary depending on screening and location, and a maximum of six tickets may be purchased per person. Qatar Museum's Culture Pass members are able to redeem a 20% discount on tickets sold by DFI.
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