By Liza Foreman
Co-Director Hugh Welchman clutching one of two awards taken home tonight at the Ajyal Film Festival in Doha for Loving Vincent, the first fully-painted feature film. Think 65,000 oil paintings photographed into a film. Loving Vincent was co-financed by the Doha Film Institute
DOHA, QATAR - The fifth edition of the Doha Film Institute's Ajyal Youth Film Festival (November 29 - December 4, 2017) wrapped on Monday.
Taking place at the Arabian-styled Katara Cultural Village, 550 children from 45 countries served as jurors at this year's event, as well as a panel of regional industry professionals that presented awards for the Made in Qatar section.
This year's program included 20 features and 83 shorts, 55 were from the Arab world and 52 by female filmmakers.
This year’s Ajyal winners, voted by Ajyal Jurors in three categories were:
Mohaq (jurors aged 8 to 12), Hilal (voters aged 13 to 17) and Bader (voters aged 18 to 21):
Mohaq:
Best Feature – At Eye Level directed by Joachim Dollhopf and Evi Goldbrunner (Germany/2016)
Best Short – Sing directed by Kristóf Deák (Hungary/2016)
Hilal:
Best Feature: The Breadwinner directed by Nora Twomey (Ireland, Luxembourg, Canada/2017)
Best Short: Mare Nostrum directed by Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf (France, Syria/2016)
Bader:
Best Feature: Loving Vincent directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman (UK, Poland, Qatar/2017)
Best Short: All of Us directed by Katja Benrath (Germany, Kenya/2017)
The first fully-painted feature film (think 65,000 oil paintings photographed and turned into a film) Loving Vincent (Poland, UK, Qatar), which is a co-production by the Doha Film Institute, also won this year’s Audience Award.
The film was directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman.
"We are so happy to be here and so grateful to the Doha Film Institute. It was an incredibly hard film to finance," Welchman said.
The winners for the Made in Qatar awards, chosen by regional industry professionals were:
Best Narrative: Amal Al-Muftah’s Smicha (Qatar/2017)
Best Documentary/Experimental: Rawan Al-Nassiri and Nada Bedair’s Treasures of the Past (Qatar/2017)
Special Jury Award: Aisha Al-Jaidah’s 1001 Days (Qatar/2017) and Nibu Vasudevan’s Walls (Qatar/2017)
Special Jury Documentary/Experimental Award: Rawda Al-Thani’s I Have Been Watching You All Along (Qatar/2017
