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The Royal Film
Commission – Jordan and the Ministry of Culture Agree on
Establishing Zarqa Film Center and Launching a Children’s Film
Caravan
Amman – 7 September
2020
The Royal Film
Commission – Jordan (RFC) and the Ministry of Culture signed today a
one-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch the “Children’s
Film Caravan” project and establish the Zarqa Film Center. The MoU
was signed by the Minister of Culture, Dr. Bassem Al Tweissi, and
the RFC’s Managing Director, Mohannad Al Bakri.
The “Children’s Film
Caravan” targets children (8 – 14 years) in the Governorates, where
there are cultural centers, affiliated to the Ministry and equipped
to organize film screenings. The project offers children the
opportunity to watch a variety of local, Arab and international
productions, contributing to their creative thinking and encouraging
them to discuss and express their opinion through discussions
following the screenings.
Within the MoU’s
framework, a Film Center will be established to train the youth at
Princess Salma Center for Childhood, associated to the Ministry of
Culture in Zarqa. The Center aims to provide training opportunities
to develop skills and talents related to filmmaking through holding
various workshops, for the Center’s visitors and residents in the
Governorate.
The training
workshops include topics pertaining to documentary films, short
drama and screenwriting. At the end of each workshop, films will be
produced by the participants.
Dr. Al Tweissi said: “This MoU regulates the
work by the Ministry and the RFC
and the cooperation between them, by
raising awareness about the film industry, specially outside the
capital, through establishing a Film Center in Zarqa and a
children’s film caravan that tours the Kingdom.
This comes in addition to training the
youth and building their capacity,
in order to promote
cinematic culture, as well as to
provide
an opportunity to watch Arab and international cinema
at the
cultural directorates in all
Governorates.”
He praised the RFC’s efforts over the past
years in developing the
audio-visual sector and putting Jordan
at the forefront
as a filmmaking destination,
through promoting
film tourism and attracting international
productions. He indicated that the Ministry and the
RFC share
a common vision on
how to integrate new generations in the film industry.
Mohannad Al-Bakri
indicated that the Kingdom’s Governorates have always been of
particular interest to the RFC since its establishment. He said:
“The RFC is always keen to adopt a participatory approach when
working with the various national institutions in order to have
cinema and films as part of cultural events and reach out to the
largest possible segments of society.”
He added: “The
establishment of the Zarqa Film Center will contribute to serving a
large number of adolescents in the Kingdom’s second largest
Governorate in terms of population number. The Children's Film
Caravan will also tour other Jordanian cities to showcase selected
films. Of course, any activity will take into account the
exceptional circumstances of the Coronavirus pandemic.”
It is worth noting that the RFC had cooperated with the Ministry of
Culture in previous years in organizing screening within the
“Jordanian Film Caravan” project in collaboration with cultural
directorates. Both entities also cooperated to screen Jordanian
films abroad as part of the Jordanian Cultural Days.
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