By Anand Holla


As the Doha Film Institute unveiled its master plan for the third edition of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival, Qatar’s home-grown event, once again, appears to be poised to charm children, youth and families alike, from November 29 to December 5 at Katara.
The competition line-up comprises feature films from 20 countries and a series of short film programmes. More than 500 young people from the ages of 8 to 21 will make up the Ajyal Competition Jury. While it’s hard to zero in on a few, here’s a quick run through the top seven films that you won’t want to miss:

The Idol
With his signature dramatic style and keen sense of locale, Academy Award-nominated Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad brings to the screen the inspiring life story of Arab Idol champion Mohammed Assaf, who shot to international fame when he won the wildly popular singing competition in 2013.
Ten-year-old Mohammed and his rambunctious elder sister Nour spend all their time chasing money they need to start up a band. Their determination pays off, but it is immediately clear that young Mohammed has a very special gift for singing. No artist is immune to self-doubt, however, and it is Nour’s constant encouragement that keeps Mohammed on the path to glory.

Lamb
After Ephraïm’s mother dies, his father must go to Addis Ababa to find work. So he sends the nine-year-old boy to stay with his extended family in southern Ethiopia. The youngster’s sole comfort is his late mother’s sheep, Chuni, but when his uncle Solomon demands that the animal be slaughtered to feed his malnourished family, Ephraïm devises a plan to save his friend in director Yared Zeleke’s clear-eyed look at a youth’s struggle to find his way in the world.
Hero and the Message
This cool animated Qatari short – runtime is 25 mins – tells the fantastic tale of a Qatari brother and sister who travel back in time on the prototype of a futuristic train to witness the founding events of the State of Qatar. Produced by Al Rayyan Productions and directed by Pawel Borowski, it was created to celebrate Qatar’s National Day in 2012.

Celestial Camel
It’s hard for Bayir, a young sheepherder, to believe in wonders living in the desolate Kalmyk Steppe, a remote, drought-stricken region of Russia. Deeply in debt, Bayir’s father is forced to sell Altynka, the family’s beloved camel calf, to a cruel film producer – even though the pure-white creature is a good omen. When Altynka’s mother runs off to find her offspring, Bayir heads off on an epic journey to find her, and discovers that wonders do happen in the most unlikely of places. The Russian-Mongolian film is directed by Yury Feting.
Taxi Tehran
With Taxi Tehran, celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi places himself in the driver’s seat of a cab, taking fares to their destinations in a film that never quite admits whether it is documentary or fiction. The taxi becomes a sort of confessional in which, encouraged by the director, his passengers speak of their troubles and expectations in Panahi’s wonderful portrait of contemporary Tehran. At its world premiere at the Berlinale, the film was awarded the Golden Bear, the festival’s highest honour.

Mina Walking
In Yosef Baraki’s film, twelve-year-old Mina is saddled with caring for her senile grandfather and supporting her layabout father, but selling trinkets on the streets of Kabul barely keeps the family afloat. She attends school against her father’s wishes and tries to find better work; in war-torn Afghanistan, however, making ends meet is difficult for everyone – especially a young girl. When one fateful decision starts a chain of events she cannot control, Mina finds herself backed into a corner, searching for a means of escape.

Bilal
Director Ayman Jamal and Khurram H Alavi’s magnum opus took four years in the making and involved creative talents from 22 countries. In a dreamlike vision, mysterious dark riders mounted on demonic black horses bear down upon a village. Not far, little Bilal dreams of being a great warrior as he gallops along on his hobbyhorse – and the dream becomes a nightmare. The men on horseback kill his mother and take him captive along with Ghufaira, his sister. Soon, they are sold as slaves to Umayya, the wealthiest merchant in Arabia. Bilal never forgets the day, which haunts his sleep for years to come. But the echoes of his mother’s gentle voice stay with him, a constant reminder that to break free of the chains that enslave him, he must forge his own destiny. Bilal is the first animated feature from Dubai-based Barajoun Studios.


A still from Lamb.