An array of award-winning films and events for the whole family will take centre stage today, the second day of Ajyal Film Festival 2019, the annual cinema event hosted by the Doha Film Institute (DFI) at Katara – the Cultural Village. Ajyal brings back Geekdom, Qatar’s largest pop-culture event, as part of the Ajyal Creativity Hub.
Visitors of all ages are welcome to join the event, which is open to the public at the Geekdom pavilion in Katara buildings 18 and 19. Families and children will be entertained by a special screening of Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s The Secret World of Arrietty (Japan/2010) at Katara building 18 at 4pm. 
The Ajyal Creativity Hub additionally presents ARC — a multimedia exhibition featuring eclectic artworks by 19 of Qatar’s most promising artistes and creative talents. ARC will be open to the public from 10am-10pm at Katara Building 19, Gallery 1. 
The exhibition invites visitors to follow the chronological path of narrative through multimedia art pieces divided into three distinct parts — Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution. 
Visitors are invited to join an exclusive discussion panel on ‘Storytelling & The Qatari Identity’ at 6pm today, where artists will share the unique insight and creative foundations of their works. The panel is moderated by Abdulaziz Yousef and features Qatari artists Ibrahim al-Baker, Buthaina al-Zaman and Roda Ahmad al-Thani.
Following its Middle East premiere at the Ajyal 2019 Opening Night, a screening of Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven (France, Qatar, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Palestine/2019) will be held at Novo Cinemas, The Pearl-Qatar at 8.30pm. The screening is rated PG-18.
A selection of feature films will the screened throughout the day: Suhaib Gasmelbari’s award-wining documentary Talking About Trees (France, Sudan, Germany, Chad, Qatar/2019) will screen at 5.30pm at Novo Cinemas, The Pearl-Qatar; The DFI-supported film, 1982 (Lebanon, US, Norway, Qatar/2019) by Oualid Mopaneseen, will screen at VOX Cinemas Doha Festival City at 5.30pm; DFI-supported feature film Bombay Rose (India, France, UK, Qatar/2019) by Gitanjali Rao will screen at 8.30pm at VOX Cinemas Doha Festival City, and is rated PG-18; Gints Zilbalodis’s Away (Latvia/2019) can be viewed at Novo Cinemas, The Pearl-Qatar at 6pm; and The Land of Ashes (Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, France/2019) by Sofía Quiros Ubeda will be screened at Novo Cinemas, The Pearl-Qatar at 9pm, and is rated PG-15.
For ticket purchase and up-to-date information on the Ajyal Film Festival, one can visit https://www.dohafilminstitute.com/filmfestival/ticketinformation https://www.dohafilminstitute.com/filmfestival/films