Al Jazeera international documentary film festival postponed

Abbas Aranaout; the director of Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival stated that the number of the participating films in the 10th edition of the festival hit unprecedented record. He also pointed there will be remarkable contributions that reflect the momentum of the 10th edition of the festival. He also revealed that the festival was postponed to next October due to the closure of Sheraton Hotel for maintenance and refurbishment.  The festival administration was in the process of launching the 10th edition on April 17, but we were taken aback by the hotel administration because finding an alternative in such a short notice was not possible, so we were compelled to postpone the festival to October 23, Arnaout added. The level of the activities No negative repercussions will result from the postponement of the festival, Mr. Aranout confirmed. He also added that the 10th edition of the festival gains a huge importance because it is a turning point in the festival journey since its launching in 2005. We, therefore, prepared program activities that reflect the importance of the anniversary. This was taken into consideration during the postponed period. The motto of the 10th anniversary is "Steps" which represents the first step taken when the first edition was launched in 2005. Now the step turned into steps and the motto is inspired by the proverb "a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step". The steps don’t come to an end, what we’ve walked is not the end point. Rather, they were just steps that will be followed by many others, the festival director added. The festival administration has always given mottos to each edition. The first edition in 2005 was given "You Welcome" motto as a welcoming note to the birth of the festival. In 2006, the festival bore the motto "Communication" to resemble the invitation to the human and cultural exchange with others. Then "Alsalam Alyakum" was given the third edition of the festival as a kind salutation to others irrespective to their color, religion, or background. The fourth edition’s motto was "Together" to affirm the cooperation and fraternity disseminated by the festival. In 2009, the festival bore the motto "Five Years of Hope" to represent optimism, then followed by "Freedom" in 2010, representing the freedom of thought, freedom of politics, and the social freedom. In regards to the 7th edition, it bore the motto "Debate" to represent the acceptance of others.  The 8th edition in 2012 had "Future" as a motto to open new future avenues filled with hope. Last year, the motto was "Windows" to confirm the openness of the festival to different forms of human innovation from different continents and countries. Festive Shows Arnaout stated that the opening and closing ceremonies of the 10th festival will witness folkloric band shows to cast festive ambiance on the event. Some of the winning films from previous festivals will be showed. Film directors were invited to hold post-film discussions with viewers and answer their queries.