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Doha, Qatar; November 30, 2015: The Ajyal Youth Film Festival today marked the launch of a pan-Arab film initiative aimed at nurturing the filmmaking talents of people across the region in partnership with MBC2.
At the Ajyal Youth Film Festival’s ‘In Conversation’ session between two-time Academy Award nominated director Hany Abu-Assad and ‘Arab Idol’ champion Mohammed Assaf, MBC2’s Commercial Director Sharif Badreddine announced a ‘2 Minute Movie Competition’ open to all aspiring filmmakers in the Arab world. To participate they only have to upload a movie with a running time of not more than two minutes to mbc.net/2mm or the MBC2 Mobile App to win an array of fantastic prizes.
Fatma Al Remaihi, Festival Director and CEO of the Doha Film Institute, said: “The 2 Minute Movie Competition is an open call for all aspiring moviemakers in the Arab world to showcase their talent and creativity. Aimed at nurturing Arab filmmaking talent and inspiring them to pursue their passion for cinema, it is one of the key community oriented initiatives that is being held to mark the third edition of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival.”
Sharif Badreddine, MBC Group Commercial Director said: “The partnership between MBC2 and Ajyal Youth Film Festival has created a solid platform for young talents to express their creativity and gain international exposure. Beyond the festival, we, MBC2 and Ajyal want to engage the Arab community and inspire people of all ages to tell their stories through the medium of film in the most effortless way, as our objective is to solidify the expressions of the digital generation and their creativity via movie-making in the Arab world. Just as ‘Arab Idol’ helped to identify the talent pool of musicians across the region, we are confident that the 2 Minute Movie Competition will help us to put the spotlight on aspiring filmmaking talent.”
The entries will be evaluated by an accomplished jury of experts including Hany Abu-Assad; Fatma Al Remaihi; Doha Film Institute’s Chief Administrative Officer Abdulla Al-Mosallam; MBC2 Senior Channel Manager Lina Matta; and producer & presenter of ‘Scoop,’ Raya Abi Rashed. They will select the top 10 short films, which will be posted on social media channels of MBC2 for the public to vote. The overall winners, chosen by the jury and the public, will receive fantastic prizes.
The winning movies will premiere on MBC2 and will also debut on the big screen at the Ajyal Youth Film Festival’s 2016 edition. Any resident across the region can submit their entries. All content will go live on mbc.net/2mm & MBC2 Movie Guide App.

The final date for submissions will close on October 31st, 2016.
The ‘In Conversation’ session followed the opening night gala screening of The Idol (Palestine, UK, Qatar, The Netherlands / Arabic / 2015), directed by Abu-Assad. The film brings to the screen the inspiring life story of Mohammed Assaf, who shot to international fame when he won the wildly popular singing competition in 2013. The Idol will screen at Ajyal Youth Film Festival again on December 3, 11 PM at Katara Drama Theatre (K16). Tickets are priced QR25 and are available 24 hours a day at www.ajyalfilm.com or at the Ajyal Katara Main Box Office in Katara Building 12 or Ajyal FNAC Ticket Outlet at FNAC Qatar, Lagoona Mall.
The third annual Ajyal Youth Film Festival will be held from Nov 29 – Dec 5 at Katara. The programme consists of daily public screenings of local and international films; the popular ‘Made in Qatar’ section dedicated to showcasing home-grown talent from Qatar; SONY Cinema Under the Stars; family weekend; the Doha Giffoni Youth Media Summit; special events and exhibitions; the Sandbox interactive digital playground; school screenings; and the Ajyal Competition, where hundreds of young jurors between the ages of 8 and 21 will watch and discuss shorts and features and decide on the winning films. For more information visit www.ajyalfilm.com.