Palestinian stories take centre stage at Amman Film Festival

Annual event in Jordan is dominated this year by what is happening in Gaza

Palestinian actress Sarah Yousef at the opening ceremony of the Amman International Film Festival. AFP

A solemn undertone rung across the opening ceremony of the fifth Amman International Film Festival. On the surface, the event had all the glitz of previous years. Regional filmmakers, industry professionals and ministers arrived dressed to the nines and were enthusiastically welcomed by photographers.

However, there were no traditional Jordanian bagpipe ensembles greeting visitors; no rock interpretations of Arab folk songs. Live performances were largely curtailed; understandably so.

Palestine was at the forefront of the ceremony, through symbolic aesthetic choices as well as the event’s programming and opening speeches. Olive trees decked the courtyard of the Al Hussein Cultural Centre. Tatreez patterns lined the floor in lieu of a red carpet and on the walls that bore the festival’s branding. Keffiyehs were abound. Lapels were pinned with symbols of solidarity, including the Palestinian flag. Some festival badges were donned with necklaces that read: "Stop the Genocide".

The war in Gaza, which has resulted in nearly 38,000 Palestinians being killed since October, is the subject of most conversations at the festival and is at the centre of programming decisions.

“This is the fifth edition so it’s a milestone for us,” Bassam Alasad, head of AIFF’s industry section, told The National. “When we started preparing last year, before anything happened in the region, we wanted to host a special edition.”

Since the war began in October, it has seemed more pertinent than ever to highlight Palestinian narratives, Alasad said. Films are a pivotal medium to highlight sidelined narratives and, in the case of Palestine, it was a potent way to showcase the cultures and identities that are under threat.

“We want to highlight powerful stories from all around the world, focusing on Palestine and what is happening in Gaza right now,” Alasad added. “But also, we want to highlight aspirations from all around the global south.”

The festival's focus on Palestine became all the more apparent when the ceremony officially began at the venue’s theatre space. In her opening remarks, Princess Rym Ali, president of the festival, noted that the past year has been contorted by tragedy.

“Despite the continuing suffering and massacres in Palestine, Sudan and others, we have adhered to the festival as a space to support cinema, because art is a life-supporting system,” Princess Rym said. She added that it was an important time to share Arab perspectives on a global stage, especially as some perspectives from the region are subjected to “distortion”.

“The theme of this year’s festival is Our Stories, Our Narratives,” she said. “It is an invitation to tell our stories, share our rich cinema culture, and emphasise our Arab ties. Let’s tell our stories to the world.”

Princess Rym also acknowledged efforts by festival team, led by director and co-founder Nada Doumani, in curating a strong selection of films that feature stories from the Arab world as well as the larger Global South.

“This is a very difficult time for all of us. We have spent the past 10 months watching unbelievable tragedies unfold in Palestine,” Princess Rym said, before referencing Palestinian activist Rafeef Ziadah’s viral poem We Teach Life, Sir.

“We decided to practice life and show it on the big silver screen by sharing stories of those who never allow their culture to be erased,” she added. “So let's tell our stories.”

The ceremony opened with a selection of two films, each showing different aspects of the Palestinian experience. A short film by Hana Eleiwa, titled No, was screened first.

The work comes as part of From ground zero, a collection of 22 short films that have been made by Palestinian filmmakers in Gaza since the current war began. The project, spearheaded by Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi, was initially expected to be shown at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, but was then pulled. A protest screening was held in the French resort town with no official backing by Cannes.

As such, opening AIFF with an work from the From ground zero collection bore an undeniable symbol of solidarity. The film features a group of Gazan youths as they sing songs of resistance and hope, offering an uplifting streak of joy in a landscape marred by devastation.

From ground zero will be screening in full as part of AIFF’s spotlight section. The segment also includes classics, such as Yousry Nasrallah’s Bab el Shams, which takes cues from the seminal novel by Elias Khoury and spans half a century of Palestinian history, beginning with the Nakba.

Bye Bye Tiberias was the opening feature of the festival. Directed by Lina Soualem, the documentary tells the story of four generations of women from the Palestinian side of her family, including her great-grandmother Um Ali; her grandmother Nemat; her mother Hiam Abbas, the celebrated Succession actress; and Soualem herself. The film elegantly interweaves family videos with contemporary footage, touching upon the intergenerational effects of displacement and exile.

The film’s AIFF screening was attended by Soualem, her mother and her aunts, who made the journey from Palestine. “I’m extremely happy that we’re here,” Soualem said. “It’s the first time my aunts are going to see the film, the first time we’re seeing it all together.”

She added that she had thought of this moment since the film premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in September.

She added: “I just want to say that through our films and our voices, we fight oblivion.”

The 2024 Amman International Film Festival will be running until July 11