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“Halaqat” Project: A New Program by
The Royal Film Commission – Jordan to Support Jordanian TV Series
Amman, 8
November 2021
“Halaqat”
project was launched today by The Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC)
in partnership with The Drosos Foundation, with six Jordanian TV
series projects, taking part in an intensive training program over
the course of twelve months in Amman.
The RFC has
initiated “Halaqat” with the aim of supporting teams of directors,
producers and screenwriters in Jordan, and helping them develop
their TV series projects under the mentorship of local, Arab and
international consultants in the fields of scriptwriting, directing,
production and marketing through eight training labs.
The selected
TV series are: “Five Thieves” (directed by Mohammad Ali/written by
Mohammad Ali and Karim Ariqat/produced by Mohammad Zghoul);“The
Shopping Square” (directed by Samer Battikhi/written by Samer
Battikhi and Hayat Abu Samra/produced by Aya Wuhoush); “The Night is
Still Young” (directed by Naji Salameh/written by Moeen Masoud/produced
by Mohammad Khamis); “Jordanian Tales” (directed and written by
Ahmad Al-Khatib/produced by Mays Al-Reem); “The Cage” (directed and
written by Mohammad Alhushki/produced by Yousef Abd al Nabi); “What
Really Happened to Aisha?” (directed and written by Zaid Baqaeen/produced
by Mais Salman and Batoul Ibrahim).
The
participating teams will meet at the kick-off workshop, from 8 until
10 November, with the Lebanese writer/creator Nadia Tabbara,
nominated for the Emmy Awards, and the American writer/creator and
executive producer, Dave Holstein, nominated for the Golden Globe,
in order to create a plan for the projects’ workflow. Whereas the
Egyptian director and screenwriter Amr Salama and the American
writer and producer Paul Foley will join virtually as guest
speakers.
At later
stages of the program, each team will develop its TV bible and the
pilot episode script and will be granted up to 10.000 JDs to produce
the pilot episode. The participants will be guided on location
scouting, casting, budgeting, pre-production, going into production
and post-production up until developing a professional pitch
presentation for their TV projects. By the end of “Halaqat”, the RFC
will assist with networking the six projects with industry decision
makers from the TV and film sector, producers, production companies,
investors as well as representatives from international and regional
VOD platforms with the aim of securing funding.
Mohannad Al-Bakri,
the RFC’s Managing Director, pointed out the importance of the new
project and said: ““Halaqat” goes in line with the RFC’s vision to
expand our scope of work to include the TV sector along with the
cinema industry. What distinguishes “Halaqat” is that it’s a
high-end comprehensive project that we trust will materialize in
quality series. We appreciate The Drosos Foundation’s valuable
support, which enabled us to realize this important project.”
Fyras
Mawazini, from Drosos Foundation, commented on the new project: “We
are proud to support this new initiative "Halaqat" and we trust the
RFC to take up this new challenge and thus continue to transform the
audiovisual landscape and TV series in Jordan while improving the
competences and skills in the film industry, a very promising sector
for the youth”.
It is worth
noting that it is not the first time the RFC cooperates with the
Drosos Foundation, which had supported the establishment of three
film centers in Mafraq, Wadi Rum and Petra, between 2015 and 2019.
The RFC had organized, in the framework of this project, a total of
27 workshops and 226 screenings at the three centers, all free of
charge targeting the local communities and school students.
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