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Amman,
28th of November 2022
The juries of the first edition of Jordan’s Children Film Festival
(JCFF), organized by the Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC),
revealed the names of the wining films at the closing ceremony
yesterday evening.
Over four days, JCFF offered children the opportunity to watch a
selection of four feature-length narrative family movies and 14
narrative and animation shorts from 12 countries. The films are all
recent productions and most have been awarded internationally. The
screenings were followed by inspiring discussions with film experts
allowing the children to express their opinions and exchange ideas
with their peers, instead of being mere content’s recipients.
The jury of adults made-up of professionals working in the
audio-visual sector - the producer Khaled Haddad, the Manager of
Ro’ya Kids Platform Lara Safadi, and the Head of the Theater
Department at the Ministry of Education Bassem Awad - granted the
Best Feature Award to “Butterfly’s Heart”, by Inesa Kurklietyte,
from Lithuania. Commenting this selection, the jury said: “The film
addresses bullying in a creative and smart way as it shows the
parents’ role in supporting their bullied child as well as the
child’s sharp intelligence in confronting the bulliers.”
The jury also gave a Special Mention to the Irish animation feature
film “Wolfwalkers” by Tom Moore and Ross Stewart.
In the Short Film Category, the jury awarded the Best Prize to the
Algerian short narrative film “White Night”, by Issam Taachit, as
“the film promotes the concept of friendship and accepting others
with their differences. It is creatively done using animation
techniques”, as per the jury’s statement.
The RFC formed a second jury made up of children. Their choice went
to the Canadian narrative film “Corvine”, by Sean MacCarron, as the
Best Short Film. The young jury highlighted the importance of the
issues that the film tackles, such as encouraging children to accept
who they are, rejecting bullying, and promoting parents’ role in
supporting their children’s hobbies as well as unleashing their
imagination.
It is worth noting that the three winning films will receive cash
prizes.
The audience also had its say and voted for the Irish movie
“Wolfwalkers” as its favorite.
The Festival also organized a closed panel discussion tackling the
lack of Arab cultural productions targeting children with the
participation of the director of Haya Cultural Center Reem Arida,
the children's stories author Taghreed Al-Najjar, the producer
Khaled Haddad and the director Bassem Awad and the Capacity Building Department’s Manager at the RFC, Abedalsalam Al Haj.
The panelists discussed ways to increase cultural productions that
target children in the Arab World, and came up with a series of
recommendations: integrating a course for filmmaking students in
Jordanian universities focusing on creating content for kids;
getting the private sector on board to support producing content for
children; allocating a film fund that encourages Arab filmmakers to
create works suitable for children; cooperating with the public
sector’s entities concerned with developing cultural and educational
policies that target children; networking with other children’s
festivals to benefit from international and Arab expertise;
organizing workshops to raise awareness, in addition to creating a
financial prize to develop special content for children for the next
JCFF’s edition.
In order to reach a larger audience, the RFC reached out to SOS
Children’s Villages Jordan, Doctors without Borders, and the RFC’s
Film Centers in Mafraq and Salt. The JCFF attracted over 1100
attendees.
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