UNESCO Jordan to host World Press Freedom Day film screenings

AMMAN — In celebration of World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO, in partnership with Ma3mal 612, is hosting the screenings of four documentaries to raise awareness on the importance of press freedom and to highlight the challenges faced by journalists around the world. 

The screenings will take place over four evenings at Ma3mal 612 in Jabal Luweibdeh from May 3 until May 7, with the exception of Friday. Each screening will be followed by discussions with journalists, filmmakers and human rights activists.

This year’s theme, “Freedom of expression as a driver of other freedoms and human rights”, signifies the enabling element of freedom of expression to enjoy and protect all other human rights, according to a statement from UNESCO.   

This year’s special 30th-anniversary celebration of the World Press Freedom Day is a call to recentre press freedom, as well as independent, pluralistic and diverse media, as the necessary key to the enjoyment of all other human rights. This anniversary coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Conference and its Declaration and Programme of Action on Human Rights, which established important institutions safeguarding human rights, and with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

In addition to the film screenings, UNESCO, in partnership with Ma3mal 612, is also organising an intensive one-day workshop for young filmmakers and emerging screenwriters wishing to broaden their understanding of the role of films in advancing human rights and promoting freedom of expression. 

Throughout the interactive session, journalists, human rights advocates and filmmaking experts will share ideas with 20 young film enthusiasts and foster participatory and critical thinking on urgent freedom of expression issues and how they impact the realisation of other human rights. The workshop’s ultimate goal is to encourage young screenwriters and filmmakers to write, develop and produce films on the topic and issues of freedom of expression. 

Film screenings day one, “Endangered”, is a 2022 documentary on an investigation of threats against journalists in the United States and internationally, from intimidation to physical.

Film screening day two, “The Journey is the Destination”, is a 2016 film inspired by the true story of Dan Eldon, a charismatic young activist, artist, photographer and adventurer.  Dan Eldon, who was only 22 when he was chased down and killed by an angry mob in Somalia.

Film screening day three, “The Cost of Freedom: Refugee Journalists in Canada”, is a 2021 film that focuses on the lives of three journalists from Syria, México and Turkey, exploring the reasons that each person fled their country and how and why they chose to rebuild their lives as refugees in Canada.

The film screening day four, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was reporting from the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when an Israeli soldier shot and killed her. In “The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh”, Fault Lines spoke with witnesses from that day (May 11, 2022) and asked the White House and State Department whether the US will investigate Shireen Abu Akleh shooting.