(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A film by Qatari high school student Sana al-Ansari won the 'Best National Film' at the Northwestern University - Qatar's Thimun Film Festival held recently, besting 55 other entries in the competition.
"I was not expecting it at all. I just wanted to make a film that will make a difference in my community as a whole," the 17-year- old student at Raba'a Adawiya Girls' Independent School told Gulf Times.
Her aim was to inspire and raise awareness on how to lessen and gradually stop fatal accidents on Qatar roads with her film titled If They Only Knew.
Al-Ansari noted that she was very much concerned about the growing number of young Qatari men dying in road traffic accidents caused by speeding.
"When one death hit very close to home, I decided to do something about it," she said.
The incident inspired her to make the film in a bid to show the youths in Qatar and around the world the negative effects of speeding.
In the film, she highlighted the trauma caused by each road traffic accident not only to those directly involved in such incidents but also to their families.
The film's debut took place at Reach Out to Asia's Empower Conference attended by more than 500 youth participants.
"It was well received and got an enormously good review from the youth participants," said al-Ansari, who was very pleased with the response of the audience to the film.
A day after receiving the award at Thimun, al-Ansari flew to Washington DC, US, to showcase her film before a group of young participants, mostly international students.
Qatar Foundation International invited her to be a part of the conference by conducting a workshop and speak to the participants about her project.
The young filmmaker shared her knowledge and experiences on how to set goals and work on their projects.
She also encouraged students to complete what they started, motivating them to do "service learning projects" for the community.
One of the actors in her film, Abdul Aziz al-Haddod was also at the workshop to answer the questions of participants about the film.
"It was not easy, I had to make the film as I was doing my final year at Raba'a Al Adawiya Girls Secondary School, completing exams, doing extra exams," said the young filmmaker who also spent time working on the film with Doha Film Institute (DFI) almost every day for months.
"It was tough and at some points I wanted to quit but I just kept pushing myself to finish it. I'm glad I did," stressed al-Ansari, who was also thankful to DFI led by its CEO.
Given the opportunity, she wants to personally thank Qatar Museums chairperson HE Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani for starting these programmes in Qatar.
Al-Ansari also thanked her parents for fully supporting her endeavours, as well as the actors and actresses whom she lauded for "doing an amazing job."
"Making a difference in my community is very important to me and I hope that through my film, I have influenced some of the youth's thoughts before getting behind the wheel of a car," she said. "It's important for me to lower these high traffic accident rates in our great country, Qatar."
Al-Ansari will be joining Northwestern University-Qatar in fall this year to study Communications.
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