2nd edition of Amman Int’l Film Fest – Awal Film to start from August 23 (Jordan Times)

AMMAN — Jordan Times — The Amman International Film Festival – Awal Film (AIFF), Jordan’s first international film festival that draws attention to début movies, unveiled its artwork and creative management team for its second edition set to take place between August 23 and 31, 2021.

The festival seeks works that manifest artistic boldness, strength of form and originality in the use of the medium of film, according to the AIFF website.

Directed by Nada Doumani for the second year in a row, the festival’s first edition was launched amid the pandemic in 2020, screening the films at a drive-in cinema in Abdali and at the Royal Film Commission’s open-air theatre, overcoming all obstacles of the ongoing crisis. 

Areeb Zuaiter, an independent filmmaker, is responsible for the festival programming, while the industry section is headed by Bassam Alasad, who is a producer and green production consultant.

“We believe that the first edition, which took place in the middle of a global health crisis, was a proper outlet for the artistic expression and thirst of filmmakers and filmgoers alike,” Doumani said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

There is always “a distinct taste” to any first film. “It is personal, it is intimate and it is, indeed, special,” Doumani added.

“This year, we are celebrating a gradual return to normalcy, and we have incorporated the concept of chasing the light in this edition,” she noted. 

On Thursday, Doumani told The Jordan Times that “by chasing the light”, filmmakers and the world are experiencing a return to normalcy after over 15 months that have dramatically impacted people’s lives. 

Expressing her hope that these are the final days of the pandemic and that the world is finally “reaching the light at the end of the tunnel; to us, this light is the light of cinema”.

Doumani said that “chasing the light also means going after things that you love, enjoy, make you ponder and feel alive and happy”.