The third edition of the Jordan Children’s Film Festival (JCFF) kicked off last night Sunday 4th of August, organized by the Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC), which partnered this year with the Children’s Museum Jordan, this year festival introduced by UNICEF, the Child Rights Special Award. Esteemed guests, RFC’s Board members and partners attended the opening ceremony, as well as a large number of children with their families. 

JCFF is the first of its kind in the Kingdom and one of the few in the region that solely focuses on movies for the youth. Until the 8th of August and at the Children Museum in Amman, the audience will get the chance to watch a variety of recent Arab and international productions, suitable for children above 10 years and some for those above six. The participating films were selected from many short and feature films submitted to the festival.

Commenting on the Festival, Mohannad Al-Bakri, Managing Director of the RFC, said: “We are thrilled to announce the Children’s Festival for the third consecutive year. This event aligns with our other projects and activities focused on children, including our ongoing “Film in School” program in partnership with the Ministry of Education, as well as our regular kids’ film clubs, which train children from across the country in various aspects of filmmaking.” He added, “We plan to grow JCFF in the upcoming years as one of our goals is to encourage more children’s cinematic content”.

Children will get exposed to different environments and cultures through six feature narrative family movies: “Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo” from France; “Big Dreams” from the Czech Republic; “Bird of a Different Feather” from India; “The Diary of Paulina P.” from Croatia, “Clarice's Dream” from Brazil; and finally, “The Pinchers’ High Voltage Heist” from Sweden. Moreover, 14 short narrative and animation films from Tunisia, Iran, The United States, Italy, Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Palestine, Lativa, Iraq, Japan, Algeria and Lebanon will be showcased. 

Screenings will be followed by discussions with film experts encouraging the young audience to think, analyze and exchange ideas. In parallel to the screenings, training interactive activities will be organized for children:  one for acting   and three digital filmmaking workshops in RFC’s film centers precisely in Petra, Irbid and Wadi Rum; in addition to puppet making and storytelling activities in the Children’s Museum throughout the festival days.   

The RFC formed two juries: one is made-up of adult professionals that includes Lina Al Tal, a Jordanian actress and director; Cynthia Mdanat, writer/director of the first animated Jordanian feature film “Saleem”; Bassem Awad, a Drama educational expert. The second jury includes three adolescents – Elyana Al-Adhami, Selena Rabab'ah, and Salah Al Sadeq, gives children the who select their favorite movie. The audience will also have its say by voting for its favorite title. 
The Child Rights Special Award, introduced at this year's Jordan Children’s Film Festival (JCFF) by UNICEF, underscores the organization’s commitment to promoting and protecting children's rights through the power of cinema.

The films will be competing for five awards as following: Jury Prize for Best Feature; Jury Prize for Best Short; Children Jury Prize for Best Short; Audience Award for Best Feature; and last but not least UNICEF Special Award, granted by UNICEF Jordan.

The awards closing ceremony will take place on Thursday 8th of August, at the RFC.

About the Royal Film Commission – Jordan
The Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC) is a public institution, with administrative and financial autonomy, established in 2003 with a mandate to promote for and contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Jordanian audio-visual industry. The RFC organizes training workshops, screenings and provides production support services.

For any further information, please email: [email protected] or call: +962797557116