International film festival kicks off in Qatar

An international film festival kicked off in Qatar's capital Doha on Monday.

Some 96 films from 39 countries will be shown at the 7th edition of the Ajyal Film Festival organized by the Doha Film Institute.

The theme for the six-day event is Find Film, Find Life.

The jury which will decide the Best Film is composed of three age groups; the first is aged between 8 to 12, the second 13 to 17, and the third 18 to 21.

Fifty film entries are from the Arab world and 56 filmmakers women.

Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi, the festival director, said: “Films allow us to escape our daily lives to visit fascinating new worlds. As we discover ourselves in characters and stories and find more similarities than differences, we find the great value of our own realities.

"Ajyal 2019 captures this very spirit of self-discovery with the theme ‘Find Film, Find Life’ to ignite a resounding celebration of cinema."

This year's festival will start with Palestinian auteur Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven. The film is about Elia’s experience of leaving Palestine to find an alternative homeland. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors; however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home.

A Made in India section will air a selection of short films curated by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images.