The Ajyal Film Festival is a unique annual event hosted by The Doha Film Institute. Aimed at selected Jurors aged 8-25, who have access to the very best in international cinema, inspiring talks, exciting workshops and thought-provoking masterclasses—all in an innovative hybrid format.
The Ajyal Jury Competition is the core component of the festival and presents jurors aged 8-25 with the incredible opportunity to decide Ajyal’s competition winners. The directors of the winning films are granted funding for their next film, so jurors are empowered to support and promote future content that is relevant and meaningful to them.
The week-long festival is broadcast live across the company’s social media channels, and I had the chance to work behind the scenes to help the production team put together the broadcast programmes.
Fixing the Career Gap
Working on the Ajyal Film Festival was not only a departure from my roots of factual TV into live events, but it allowed me to meet so many great people. The festival was also my first job back in the industry after taking a career break.
A few of the highlights of working on this film festival included meeting a parrot who could speak several languages and experiencing firsthand the jurors’ reactions when meeting some of the top movie stars up close.
The unique format of the Ajyal Film Festival allowed the next generation of filmmakers a behind the scenes peek at what film production is like. Meeting some of the most experienced creatives allowed the jurors an opportunity to ask some provoking questions.
If you want to find out more about the Ajyal Film Festival, have a look at some of the behind the scenes footage and photos here.