Hosted by the Doha Film Institute in partnership with Italy’s Giffoni Experience, the third edition of the Doha Giffoni Youth Media Summit brings together over 40 delegates from across the world, including Qatar and the MENA region. The Summit is a platform for the development of innovative youth media projects and explores how to harness new technologies and thought within the continuously evolving digital media landscape. This edition places a special emphasis on building inclusivity into film festivals and media programmes for youth whose lives have been disrupted by illness, poverty, or socio-political conflict. Delegates include programmers and directors of film festivals for children and youth and representatives from national screen agencies and media organizations with a vested interest in entertainment content for young people. The event is also open to local film professionals and students who want to attend the Summit’s panels and activities.

Planet-Y

Planet-Y is an international network of film industry leaders and media organisations committed to engaging and inspiring children and young adults from around the world. Led by the Doha Film Institute and the Giffoni Experience, the initiative is a platform for brainstorming, exchange and collaboration. It emerged from the need to identify a collective, industry wide strategy to tackle the myriad challenges produced by the rapidly growing and ever-changing media sphere, to harness new technologies, and to build a better world for upcoming creative generations. The projects of Planet-Y aim to encourage expression, enable and increase the production of creative and artistic audiovisual works, build general media literacy among youth, and facilitate the broader dissemination of film and other media by and for youth.

PROGRAMME

A Producer’s Guide to Animation: The Making of the ‘Shaun the Sheep Movie’

Mon 30 Nov / 3:00 PM / K16–DT

Paul Kewley has worked in the film, television and digital industries for more than 20 years. The producer of the ‘Shaun the Sheep’, Kewley will conduct an animation master class, discussing how Shaun made the transition from bit player (in Nick Park’s ‘Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave’) to movie star, as well as the role of the producer, including creative development and how the ‘Shaun the Sheep Movie’ was made. Sponsored by the Qatar Animation Centre, an initiative of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Master Class Leader: After a successful career as a TV producer, Paul Kewley was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of Southern California in 1995. He returned to the UK in 2009 to join Aardman Studios, where he produced the ‘Shaun the Sheep Movie’ and raises development financing for various films on the company’s slate. Kewley is the architect of the BFI/Aardman Film Lab, a scheme intended to develop animated projects in the UK.

In Conversation with Hany Abu-Assad and Mohammed Assaf

Mon 30 Nov / 5:30 PM / K16–DT 

Join Academy Award-nominated director Hany Abu-Assad and ‘Arab Idol’ champion Mohammed Assaf for an in-depth discussion about bringing the Idol’s life story to the big screen, the power of combining music and cinema and the challenges facing Arab artists today. 

Guests: Hany Abu-Assad is an Academy Award-nominated Palestinian director. His ‘Paradise Now’ (2006) was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, while ‘Omar’ (2013) won the Un Certain Regard jury prize at the Festival de Cannes, and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. ‘The Idol’, his sixth feature-length film, opens Ajyal this year.

Mohammed Assaf is the superstar Palestinian pop singer who shot to international fame when he won the second season of ‘Arab Idol’ in 2013. He was named the first Goodwill Ambassador for Peace by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Moderator: Ali Jaafar is Executive Director of Mezza Terra Media and the UK Editor of ‘Deadline Hollywood’ and the producer of Hany Abu-Assad’s ‘The Idol’. During his time as executive director of the film division of Quinta Communicatins, the company co-produced Rachid Bouchareb’s Academy Award-nominated ‘Outside the Law’ (2010), Julian Schnabel’s ‘Miral’ (2010), Jean-Jacques Annaud’s ‘Black Gold’ (2011) and Nadine Labaki’s ‘Where Do We Go Now?’ (2011), the first Arab film to win an Audience Award at TIFF.

Children in Conflict Areas: Empowering Youth to Share Their Stories

We have all been shocked by the heartbreaking images of the refugee crisis dominating the news. This panel considers the many young people around the world whose lives have been disrupted by socio-political conflict, illness and poverty. What tools do these children have to tell their stories? What kind of stories do they have access to? A highlight of the Doha Giffoni Youth Media Summit, this public panel aims to create a conversation around how content creation in film and media can assist children in conflict areas to share their stories.

Speakers:
Matthew Cassel, Photojournalist / USA
Charlotte Giese, Specialist Advisor for Children and Youth, Danish Film Institute / Denmark
Firas Kayal, Senior External Relations Officer, Bureau for the Middle East and North Africa, UNHCR / Switzerland
Essa Al Mannai, Exective Director, Reach Out to Asia (ROTA) / Qatar
Farooq Burney, Director of Al Fakhoora Education Above All / Qatar

Moderator:
Firdoze Bulbulia is an award-winning producer, director and trainer. She is Chairperson of the Children and Broadcasting Foundation for Africa; the former President of the International Centre of Films for Children and Young People; and a co-founder of Africa’s Best Channel, a television channel for young people in Nigeria. She has produced four feature-length films and several TV productions, and she is currently producing ‘Mandela’s Africa’, a Nelson Mandela legacy project.

Neuro-Communication: How to Speak the Language of the Brain

Tue 01 Dec / 10:00 AM / Katara Building 19, Doha Giffoni Youth Media Summit (K19-MS)

What drives us, as people and as consumers, to make the choices that we make? How do we decide whether or not to engage with an organisation, with a film, or with a product? At the core of every film festival, and the heart of the film industry itself, is one key concern: the audience. This fascinating workshop gives participants in-depth insight into the principles of neuro-communication and how to apply it to social networks.

Workshop Leader:
An Italian writer, screenwriter, director and festival professional, Manlio Castagnahas worked with the Giffoni International Film Festival for children and youth since 1999. He is currently the Deputy Artistic Director for the festival. With a degree in Communications and specialty in neuromarketing, Castagna leads the digital and social media platforms of the Giffoni Festival and teaches a variety of workshops on neuro-sensorial marketing, event management, writing and photography.

The Digital World: How to Speak the Language of Youth

Wed 02 Dec / 1:30 PM / Katara Building 19, Doha Giffoni Youth Media Summit (K19-MS)

Featuring regional and international social media celebrities and new media experts, this industry panel explores what makes young people tick online, as well as effective ways to adapt to and tap into social networks in the changing digital landscape.