Curtains fall on 3rd edition of Amman International Film Festival

AMMAN — Attended by festival’s president HRH Princess Rym Ali and HRH Prince Ali, the Amman International Film Festival (AIFF) concluded Wednesday night with a ceremony held at the Royal Film Commission’s outdoor amphitheatre. 

The event was also attended by a number of national and international film industry experts, and was presented by Jordanian singer Zain Awad. 

The festival took place over eight days and screened 49 films from 29 countries across the Kingdom, and concluded with the awarding of a Black Iris Trophy and cash prizes for the best film in each category, according to an AIFF statement.

In a closing speech at the event, AIFF Co-founder and Director Nada Doumani told the attendees that the 3rd edition of the festival attracted “double” the participants of last year’s festival. 

“The festival is an incubator for talents and different narratives which speak to our minds and emotions,” Doumani said in the AIFF statement. 

The Black Iris for “Best International Film” was awarded to French Director Florence Miailhe for the film “The Crossing/La Traversée”, who also received a $5,000 prize.

Director Salah Assaad won the Black Iris for Best Arab Feature-Length Narrative for her Algerian film “Soula”, as well as a $20,000 prize.

“Little Palestine [Diary of a Seige]”, a Palestinian-Syrian film directed by Abdullah al Khatib, was awarded the Black Iris for Best Arab Feature-Length Documentary, as well as a $15,000 prize.

Algerian director Mourad Hamla received the Black Iris for Best Arab Short Film for his film “My Mother’s Voice” and received a $5,000 prize.

Jordanian filmmaker Mohammad al Dabbas was also given a special mention for his short film “The Mission”. 

“I feel appreciated,” the 22-year-old filmmaker from Salt told The Jordan Times at the event. 

Dabbas said: “I had a different kind of point of view for my film, I didn’t want it to be boring,” adding that he wanted to entertain the audience while presenting his “message”. 

Lebanese filmmaker and director Nicolas Khoury, whose feature-length documentary “Fiasco” was screened in the festival, also spoke to The Jordan Times about his film.

“The screening of my film in Jordan was important, it is the first time that a personal film with such a sensitive subject found access to the Jordanian public,” he said.

Commenting on his experience in the festival, Nicolas said that: “This week, we were all one big family.”

“The festival was a place for new friendship and human experience,” he noted.