You are here

Young filmmakers to screen short films in French festival

Six Jordanians awarded Falcon Awards for their short documentary, narrative movies

By Camille Dupire - Jul 03,2018 - Last updated at Jul 03,2018

Winners of the Falcon Awards pose for a group picture at the ceremony in Amman on Sunday evening (Photo courtesy of FFFA)

AMMAN — Six Jordanian filmmakers on Sunday evening received a Falcon Award, a prize honouring their dedicated efforts in the short film directing industry.

Rewarding young directors for their documentary and narrative short productions, the Falcon Awards Competition included two audience prizes and two jury prizes for best fiction and best documentary, as well as a special mention award.

Launched 12 years ago as part of the Franco-Arab Film Festival (FFFA) held in Amman annually, the Falcon Awards offer Jordanian directors the chance to be invited to the French edition of the festival in November, where they get to showcase their short production to the French public.

"I want to commend the strong commitment of these young Jordanian directors in the Short Film Competition which provides them with an outlet for creative expression, an opportunity for learning and the chance to be singled out," French Ambassador to Jordan David Bertolotti said at the awards ceremony, stressing that "short films are excellent creative laboratories".

Winner of the audience prize for the best fiction movie "Darkness", Abdallah Miqdad, said: "Submitting and screening the film in the FFFA was a great opportunity and an honour for us as it was our first premier here in Jordan in a well-known film festival."

"We were truly delighted by the audience's response and the positive feedback we got about the film," he told The Jordan Times after the event, adding: "We won the audience choice award and isn't it what we make movies for: the audience?" 

A seven-minute movie, "Darkness" sheds light on the crucial and under discussed issue of bullying, according to the 21-year-old director who said: "The darkness represents the character's weakness and main fear, which he tries to overcome to teach the bullies at school a lesson." 

He said him and his team participated in the festival to spread awareness of the issue, voicing hope that this prize will "open up many doors and opportunities to spread my word and ideas to as many people as possible". 

Alongside Miqdad, young director Rama Obeid received the audience prize for her documentary "Sakeb" while the jury’s prize for the best documentary went to "Fatimah" by Omar Jammal.

The jury’s prize for the best fiction was awarded to the three winners Aisha Shhalteh, Yasmine Nouwar and Nour Hanania for their production "Laith".

The awarding ceremony rang the curtain down on a weeklong programme of free movie screenings, which included 11 productions from Algeria, Egypt, France, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia, according to the Director of the French Institute in Jordan (IFJ) Stephane Delaporte.

"The 24th edition of the FFFA was a real success due to a very diverse set of movies and documentaries yet conveying universal messages. The success was also due to an enthusiastic audience of Jordanians and international guests," Bertolotti stated, adding that "from the opening with 'Wajib' to the closing ceremony today, people attended in great numbers and many were even willing to sit on the stairs to watch the movies".

"This past week is evidence to the strong ties closely knit between Jordan and France. 24 years after the launch of this festival, we are reaping the benefits of the commitment of both countries to make it a 'can’t miss' event for professionals," the French ambassador continued, voicing appreciation for all the directors for the "quality of their films and their generosity and enthusiasm during the debates and master classes".

The ambassador voiced hope that the 12th Falcon Awards ceremony will "inspire the younger generation of Jordanian filmmakers to come again in 2019 with the same passion and interest for cinema".

up
65 users have voted.


Newsletter

Get top stories and blog posts emailed to you each day.

PDF