BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: ‘Broken Strings’ by Palestinian director Ahmed Hassouna opened the 10th edition of the annual Aljazeera International Documentary Festival last night. The 26-minute documentary depicts the effects of Israeli aggression on the people of Gaza especially to children, their various ways of coping with the psychological effects through music, art and sport.
Adding glitter to the spectacular 10th year celebration was a performance by Al Kufiya traditional dance troupe from Palestine. The 12-member group composed of Palestinian children aged six to 10 enthralled the packed Al Wosail Ballroom in Ritz-Carlton Doha.
Welcoming the gathering of directors and producers from different countries, Aljazeera Satellite Network Chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani said:
“It is a great pleasure to see all of our guests and colleagues at this extremely important event where we celbrate creativity of people, their original works and their talents to further contribute to culture, humanity and civilisation.”
He said this year’s festival “is held under the motto ‘Steps’ as an attempt to view what has been achieved over the last ten years, draw lessons from it and capitalise on our experience.”
This year’s festival, he said, features “many creative artistic productions that will make us proud of our contribution in enriching universal culture and in building communication bridges with different nations and civilisations in the world.”
Sheikh Thamer said: “On this occasion we would like to bring to your attention that our three Aljazeera staff Mohammed Fahmy, Baher Mohammed, and Peter Greste still remain in Egyptian prison without any wrongdoing. We will be doing our best to free our journalists.”
As Aljazeera today marks 300 days since the arrest of three of its journalists in Egypt, the chairman vowed to do their best to free them.
Indian film ‘The Human Horses’ by Rosario Simanella and Marco Landini was also screened at the opening event. Prior to the opening, 30 short films were shown at four screening halls in the venue.
A total of 161 films from 60 countries are vying for honours at this year’s festival which runs for four days.
The participating films include 34 long, 51 medium, 45 short and 31 new horizon films. They were chosen from among 910 films submitted from110 countries.
Eight countries are taking part at the festival for the first time including Georgia, Papua New Guinea, Haiti, El Salvador, Rwanda, Uzbekistan, Macedonia and Eritrea.
Organised under the patronage of Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, Chairman of Al Jazeera Media Network Board, the 10th edition of the festival carries the theme ‘Steps.’
A total of QR600,000 will be given to the winners of various awards. Films from Long, Medium and Short categories will be chosen to receive major awards including the Al Jazeera Golden Award and Jury Award as well as special awards including Al Jazeera Documentary Channel Award, Public Liberties an Human Rights Award, and Child and Family Award.
Top three winners will be selected among the films made by amateur and student filmmakers for the New Horizon Award. On its 10th edition, the festival is introducing two awards including the Best Director Award and Best Camerawork Award to be given in the three categories.
The competing films are evaluated by a 15-member panel of judges from Arab and non-Arab countries including Iran, Spain, Jordan, Germany, United States of America, Greece, Italy, China, Ireland, Qatar, Poland, Norway, Morocco and Turkey.
The Peninsula
