RFC begins screenings of award-winning documentaries

AMMAN — The Royal Film Commission (RFC) on Monday will start screening a series of award-winning documentary films which confront  contemporary issues, according to the commission. 

The three-day event will include three award-winning films previously screened at international festivals. 

The screenings will be followed by discussions with producer Wael Kabbani, whose documentary “We Are Many” will also be among the screenings, according to Marian Nakho, RFC media and communication coordinator. 

“The event does not follow a specific theme, but the RFC is careful to show good-quality work to the public,” she told The Jordan Times on Sunday. 

"Walls", a documentary narrating the true stories of individuals living on both sides of very different walls, will open the event. 

The film focuses on "intimate" and "intense" stories showing us that, on both sides of one wall, we all share the same hopes, fears, thoughts and emotions, and the same desire to survive, the organisers explained. The absurd symmetry of each wall serves as a mirror to make viewers realise we all share the same essence, they added.

On the second day, the movie "We Are Many", which took nine years of work, will be shown. 

The documentary tells the inspiring story of how a handful of activists started a global movement on an unprecedented scale, and how that movement left an unexpected impact on the social and political landscapes. 

In a series of captivating interviews with prominent figures, the road to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the historic protests and the subsequent wars, are compellingly recounted, according to the organisers.

The event will wrap up with "Shadows of Liberty", which unveils the influence of money and power behind the scenes of the news media, leading to  censorship, cover-ups and corporate control.

Filmmaker Jean-Philippe Tremblay takes an intrepid journey through the dark corridors of the American media landscape, where global conglomerates call the shots, an organisers' statement noted, adding that, for decades, their "overwhelming influence has distorted journalism and compromised its values". 

In highly revealing stories, renowned journalists, activists and academics give insiders' accounts of a "broken media" system where controversial news reports are suppressed, people censored for speaking out and lives shattered, reducing the media from an arena for public expression, to a private profit zone.

For Nakho, these documentaries address pertinent, contemporary issues, which are of great interest to the public. 

 “This event will be important for both audience members and local filmmakers. We usually receive short documentary films every year,” she added. 

The three-day event will be held at Jabal Amman’s Rainbow Theatre.