Innovative Middle East festival to launch in Amman

Kidman vows to support female filmmakers

LOS ANGELES, May 24, (RTRS): An innovative film festival focused on first works from the Arab world is being launched by Jordan’s Royal Film Commission in tandem with Cairo-based marketing and distribution company Mad Solutions and the Arab Cinema Center.

The new Amman International Film Festival — Awal Film event, set to have its first edition June 20-25, 2018, in the Jordanian capital (pictured), will award prizes for directing, screenwriting, acting, cinematography, editing, music and production design displayed in first works by Arab directors. It has potential to gain traction as a significant industry incubator in the region.

The launch of the Amman fest is the latest development in the everchanging Arab film festival landscape, following the recent announcement of the ambitious new El Gouna Film Festival being launching in Egypt in September, headed by respected Arab cinema expert and programmer Intishal Al Tamimi, and reports that the Marrakech Film Festival is in jeopardy after 16 editions following the resignation of its general director, Melita Toscan du Plantier, in March.

The lineup will comprise competitive sections for narrative and documentary feature films, and also for shorts in both categories.

A selection of first works from outside the Arab world will screen out-of-competition. There will also be a sidebar dedicated to acclaimed auteurs, showcasing their debut features alongside their latest work. Other sections and activities, and also specifics on prizes, will be announced at a later date.

Jordan’s Royal Film Commission was set up in the tiny desert kingdom in 2013 with the King’s brother, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, heading its board. It has since been systematically working to build the local film industry, stepping up efforts to attract international shoots, such as Ridley Scott’s “The Martian,” and concurrently fostering local filmmakers and original Jordanian content by offering a wide range of workshops. An example of these efforts bearing fruit is “Theeb,” the debut feature shot in the Jordanian desert by local director Naji Abu Nowar which scooped a foreign Oscar nomination in 2016. Nowar wrote the script for “Theeb” while at the Sundance Institute Lab’s first Middle East program set up with the Royal Film Commission.

“We are launching this unique festival with a different edge to focus on and encourage promising talents,” said Princess Rym Ali, who is president of new Amman fest, at its Cannes launch. “It is in line with what we strive for: developing and promoting Arab cinema that reflects the creativity of the region and tackles the issues that are relevant today,” she added.

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Nicole Kidman criticized Hollywood’s rate of hiring women directors and vowed to support female filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

Kidman said that women “have to support female filmmakers — that’s just a given now.” She was speaking on behalf of Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled,” one of three films directed by women in competition for the Palme d’Or in Cannes.

“The Beguiled” is a remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 film starring Clint Eastwood, but told from a female point of view. It’s a Civil War thriller in which a wounded Union soldier is taken in by an all-girls school in Virginia.

Kidman noted that only 4 percent of major releases in 2016 were directed by women. Said Kidman: “Everyone keeps saying ‘It’s so different now. But it isn’t.”

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Sofia Coppola, speaking at the Cannes Film Festival press conference for her American Civil War movie “The Beguiled,” spoke out in favor of giving films a theatrical release rather than an online-only release.

“Always looks better seen on the big screen,” Coppola said, adding that the atmosphere in a theater added to the experience, and Philippe Le Sourd’s cinematography could be best appreciated on the big screen. “We shot it for the big frame and not a phone. I hope people will see it in the theater. That experience is such a unique one, especially in our modern lives, to really lose yourself in a film.”