A group of filmmakers in the ‘Made in Qatar’ category.

The directors who showcased their films in the ‘Made in Qatar’ programme of the third Ajyal Youth Festival, underlined the success of Doha Film Institute’s founding mission – to supporting the next generation in filmmaking talent.
Sana al-Ansari, the young director of If Only They Knew (Qatar, 2014), for example, was a young juror of the festival for two consecutive years. Turning director, therefore, was a logical progression that was supported by the DFI.
Inspired by the movies she had watched as a juror, she wanted to make a film that would resonate with the Qatari community. The result was If Only They Knew that addresses the issue of reckless driving.
“My own film was sparked by a similar incident in which a young man lost his life,” says Sana. She says the team at the DFI supported her in fine-tuning the script as well as in editing the footage she shot over two-and-a-half days.
Jassim al-Rumaihi is another talent supported by the DFI. He had screened his first shot, co-directed when he was still a student, at the festival five years ago.
It went on to win an award in the ‘Made in Qatar’ segment. Now, working as a reporter at Al Jazeera News channel, he says that in making his second shot, The Palm Tree, produced by the DFI, he approached it with greater professionalism with “no room for mistakes that I could make when I was a student.”
“The palm tree is very majestic; it is part of our heritage. It features in the logo of many Arab nations and yet you see its value diminishing in popular perception and is not so celebrated,” says Jassim.
Amina Ahmed al-Bloshi, director of To My Mother highlights a story that she hopes will resonate with every woman in the Arab world.
The film, is about the value of education, underlined by the true story of Amina’s mother, who decided to start her education at 40.
“She cried when she watched the film,” says Amina, “and told me that she had several photographs of hers as a child but never felt its value until she saw herself on screen and how people reacted to it.”
Writer-producer Ali Ali’s film Charlie further illustrates how film can make positive change. His eponymous protagonist is imaginative and precocious but was struggling in school and falling behind his peers.
He was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia. His family, after watching the Bollywood movie Tare Zameen Par, almost followed the film’s message to the core to make a positive impact on Charlie.