21st Franco-Arab Film Festival concludes

AMMAN — The 21st Franco-Arab Film Festival concluded late last week, with the closing Falcon Awards ceremony recognising the winners of the ninth Jordanian Short Film Competition.

Twenty-two films were submitted this year, out of which 19 were selected to officially run in the competition — eight documentaries and 11 narratives — according to a statement from the Royal Film Commission (RFC), which co-organised the festival with Institut Français in Jordan.

The Jordanian short films competed for the Jury Prize and the Audience Prize, which were awarded to the documentary “Octan 98” by Laith Alaerenat and the narrative film “12cm” by Zaid Abu Khlaif. 

Both directors will be invited to present their films at the fourth Franco-Arab Film Festival in Noisy-Le-Sec, France, in November, "which represents a good opportunity to promote Jordanian cinema in France", the RFC said in the statement, released Monday. 

Two films were also given a special mention by the jury: “Shake” by Deema Dabis and “Motive” by Ziad Al Khalifat.

This year, the jury was composed of Annie Thomas, director of the Cinema Theatre Le Trianon in Noisy-Le-Sec, France, who organises the French edition of the Franco-Arab Film Festival; local producer Nadine Toukan, whose latest project is the internationally acclaimed "Theeb"; and Abdelsalam Akkad, founder and director of Greyscale Production company and Aramram Web TV. 

"A large audience attended the competition’s public screening, which collected a total number of 458 votes," the statement said. 

Winners of the Audience Prize 2015 were: “My Grandfather” by Meera Irshaid for best documentary and “Box” by Lina Ramadan for best narrative. 

Both films received a Falcon award specially designed by Jordanian sculptor Hazem Al Zubi.

In 2016, the festival will celebrate the 10th edition of the competition.

This year's Franco-Arab Film Festival showcased 13 feature-length films that were attended by more than 2,500 spectators, according to the RFC.