Stories told “honestly and unapologetically” proved a winning strategy at the 6th Amman Intl Film Festival – Awal Film, an intimate, carefully programmed showcase for cinema from the Arab countries and beyond that is asserting itself as a major cultural event in the region.
A sensitive and emotionally intimate exploration of cultural identity amidst grief, ‘Têtes Brûlées’ recounts how a 12-year-old girl from a Tunisian family living in Brussels loses her beloved brother, in Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama’s stereotype-shattering debut feature.
When documaker Areeb Zuaiter in the U.S. stumbles across the Internet videos of daredevil Ahmad, a teenage parkour athlete in Gaza, they begin a heartfelt long-distance friendship that becomes entwined with the filmmaker’s sense of belonging to her mother’s Palestinian homeland, in the fascinating and revealing meeting of worlds, Yalla Parkour.
World premiering at the Amman International Film Festival, Gazan director Abdulrahman Sabbah’s ‘The Clown of Gaza’ is an observant and immersive documentary about the anxiety, hope and resilience of displaced Palestinians through the life of a buoyant street performer.
Lotfi Achour’s chilling psychodrama of a young shepherd who witnesses ISIS behead his cousin won the top prize at the 6th Amman Int. FIlm Festival – Awal Film.
From a cash rebate up to 45% for foreign productions shooting in Jordan to educational programs to develop filmmakers and audiences, Jordan’s Royal Film Commission has become a leading force in the MENA region for film culture.
In ‘From Ground Zero +’ the project organized by Rashid Masharawi collects new documentary testimony giving voice to Palestinians living in the midst of war, in which four directors vividly describe the atmosphere of fear and suffering in Gaza today.
A prestigious boys’ high school between Amman and the Dead Sea finds itself torn asunder in a growing divide between traditional teaching methods and the digital revolution, added to political tensions as the war intensifies in Gaza, in the Jordanian documentary ‘Mother of Schools’.
With 150 film submissions, it’s already a win to be among the projects selected at the Amman Film Industry Days.
As Amman’s Film Industry Days explode with some 400 participants signed on, Industry head Bassam Alasad assesses, “Arab cinema has gotten bolder and wilder – no rules can hold back its creativity.”
A delightful bouquet of children’s tales, told in stop-motion animation, gently broaches the theme of accepting death and loss in ‘Tales from the Magic Garden’, adapted from the stories of beloved Czech playwright Arnost Goldflam.
A magical film about time and history, told through the eyes of a Peter Pan farm boy who refuses to grow up, Oday Rasheed’s ‘Songs of Adam’ masterfully evokes a timeless Iraqi society of Mesopotamian farmers from post-WW2 to the present.
Amman International Film Festival – Awal Film (AIFF) raises the curtain on Arab and international films for the 6th time, during a pause in Mideast hostilities and the ongoing tragedy in Palestine.