Alien to help World Cup

Doha – A cartoon series on an alien who crash-lands in World Cup host Qatar aims to ease a culture clash between more than a million foreign football fans and the conservative state’s residents.

Like the arriving fans, Kawkabani, star of the series launched by Qatar’s first animation studio, has to learn Arabic pronunciation, how to drink coffee – and to discover that Qataris prepare way too much food for their guests.

Creators Hossein Heydar and Amal al-Shammari also want Qataris to get the message that they will have to make cultural concessions to the beer-drinking, goodtime-seeking masses who converge on their country in November and December.

The first two 10-minute episodes of Kawkabani – which means The Planet Person in Arabic – have already been launched on YouTube by their company, Nefaish Animation.

“We looked at content in the region, even in Qatar, and we felt there was a lack of content that represents Qatari culture,” said Shammari, Nefaish’s creative director. –