Archive for Jordan
May 16, 2009 at 11:16 pm · Filed under conferences and tagged: citizen journalism, Jordan, watwet, World Economic Forum, YouTube
The World Economic Forum on the Middle East is going on those days here in Jordan, at the Dead Sea. Lots of journalists and media experts are gathering to cover the event from all over the world (scrolling the right bar on the WEF official page will give an idea of the extensive reviews available), but I think one of the smartest coverage so far has been done by 7iber.com, the Jordanian citizen journalism webplatform, who has teamed up with the British Council programme Global Changemakers to bring at the Forum 18 young Arabs. After four days of training and learning how to use live blogging and watweting, they have started to reporting live from the Forum and doing lots of YouTube interviews.
http://www.7iber.com/blog/?page_id=2543.
May 2, 2009 at 10:53 am · Filed under training and tagged: Creative Commons, Jordan, Royal Film Commission
Call for participation is now open.
Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons, is going to conduct the workshop, which is developed in cooperation with Royal Film Commission of Jordan.
The workshop, the first of this kind all over the Arab world, is going to deal with issues like how to produce and distribute an audiovisual with the help of social media and networks. It is open to all Arabs of all nationalities and countries (but you have to get to Jordan).
This is a great step coming from Royal Film Commission to open the field of cinema and traditional audiovisual production to new media and try to understand how creativity could be improved through peer-production and network distribution by using open licenses such as Creative Commons.
This is the call for application, open until the 12th of may:
Workshop on “Online Media Creativity”
Writing, Producing and Distributing Audiovisuals for Online Media
Creative Commons and the Royal Film Commission of Jordan in cooperation with the SAE Institute are pleased to announce the “Online Media Creativity” workshop to be conducted by the Japanese instructor Joichi Ito. The workshop will be held from the 18th till the 22nd of May 2009 at the SAE, for four hours daily from 1:00 pm till 5:00 pm, during which both theoretical and practical instruction will be offered.
Participants will benefit from Joichi Ito’s extensive media expertise in:
- Acquiring knowledge on the major changes occurring in the audiovisual field with the advent of digital media.
- Acquiring necessary technical skills to start producing and distributing one’s own digital media.
- Enabling young Arabs to professionally produce online content and share it with the rest of the world.
TO APPLY, please email the following to programs@film.jo:
- A personal resume, indicating any relevant previous experience.
- A cover letter indicating, in at least 100 words, the reason for applying.
- Clearly including your name, email and telephone number.
Deadline for submission is Tuesday 12th of May 2009. We regret that no applications will be accepted beyond this date.
- Shortlisted candidates will be called for interview on Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th of May 2009.
- 20 participants will be selected.
- Selected participants will be notified on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th of May 2009.
- Kindly take these dates into consideration when applying and assign time for them in case you are accepted for the workshop.
For more information
Please contact the Royal Film Commission on: +962 6 461 3835 Ext. 101
* There are no fees for this workshop
* Teaching language will be English
About the Instructor:
Joichi Ito is a Japanese entrepreneur, venture capitalist and board member of numerous for-profit and not-for-profit boards. He has a background in Hollywood motion pictures, Japanese television production and online media. His recent focus is investing in early stage internet companies such as Flickr, Twitter, Last.fm, Six Apart and Technorati. Ito is the CEO of Creative Commons.
About Creative Commons:
Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization that went into operation in 2001. CC is devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses, known as Creative Commons licenses, that allow creators to communicate which rights they reserve or which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators, aiming to increase the creative content available for cultural, educational and scientific purposes.
ورشة عمل “الإعلام الإلكتروني الإبداعي”
كتابة وإنتاج وتوزيع الوسائط المرئية والمسموعة من خلال الوسائل الإلكترونية
يسرّ منظمة المشاع الإبداعي (Creative Commons) والهيئة الملكية الأردنية للأفلام بالتعاون مع كلية SAE أن تعلن عن دورة تدريبية بعنوان “الإعلام الإلكتروني الإبداعي” بإشراف الخبير الياباني “جويشي إيتو” في الفترة الواقعة ما بين 18 و22 أيار 2009 في مقر كلية SAE، وذلك بواقع أربع ساعات يوميا من الساعة الواحدة الى الخامسة بعد الظهر. وتتضمن الورشة جلسات نظرية وعملية.
سيستفيد المشاركون من خبرة خبير الإعلام “جويشي إيتو” في:
1 . تزويدهم بمعرفة التغيرات الرئيسية في مجال المرئي والمسموع بفضل الإعلام الرقمي.
2 . تمكينهم من المهارات التقنية اللازمة لإنتاج وتوزيع الإعلام الرقمي الخاص باستخدام أحدث التقنيات.
3 . إتاحة الفرصة للشباب العربي للدخول في مجال العمل المحترف من خلال الإعلام الرقمي ومشاطرة أعمالهم على مستوى دولي.
للمشاركة، يرجى إرسال المعلومات التالية على عنوان البريد الإلكتروني programs@film.jo
1 . السيرة الذاتية موضحا فيها أية خبرات سابقة ذات صلة بموضوع الورشة.
2 . رسالة تغطية لا تقل عن 100 كلمة تبيّن سبب الاهتمام بالمشاركة.
3 . توضيح الإسم وعنوان البريد الإلكتروني ورقم الهاتف.
آخر موعد لاستقبال الطلبات هو يوم الثلاثاء 12 أيار 2009 ونعتذر عن عدم قبول أي طلب بعد هذا الموعد.
- ستجري المقابلات يومي الأربعاء والخميس 13 و14 أيار 2009
- سيتم اختيار 20 مشاركا
- سيتم الاتصال بالمشاركين يومي الجمعة والسبت، 15 و16 أيار 2009، لإبلاغهم بالاشتراك بالورشة
- الرجاء أخذ هذه المواعيد بعين الاعتبار عند التقديم ومراعاة ضرورة التفرغ في حال قبولكم في الورشة
للمزيد من المعلومات
الرجاء الاتصال بالهيئة الملكية للأفلام على الرقم التالي: 3835 461 6 962+ فرعي 101
* لا يوجد أية رسوم للاشتراك بهذه الورشة
* لغة التدريس هي الإنجليزية
عن المدرب:
جوشي إيتو رجل أعمال ياباني وعضو في مجلس إدارة عدة منظمات ربحية وغير ربحية وله خبرة في أفلام عالمية (هولييود) وفي التلفزيون الياباني والإعلام الإلكتروني. اهتمامه الحديث هو الاستثمار بالمراحل الأولى من شركات الإنترنت مثل “فليكر” و”تويتر” و”لاست إف إم” و”سكس أبارت” و”تيكنوراتي”. إيتو هو المدير العام للمشاع الإبداعي .
عن المشاع الإبداعي:
المشاع الإبداعي – أو بالإنكليزية Creative Commons واختصاره CC - منظمة غير ربحية بدأت بالعمل سنة 2001، تهدف إلى توسيع مجال العمل الإبداعي المتوافر للآخرين بشكل قانوني. وقد أصدرت المنظمة عدة رخص لحماية حقوق التأليف والنشر تعرف برخصة المشاع الإبداعي وتعتمد على حفظ بعض الحقوق أو التخلي عن جميع الحقوق أو ذكر اسم المؤلف الأصلي فقط، وذلك بهدف العمل على زيادة حجم الإبداعات المتوفرة في مجال الثقافة والتعليم والمواضيع العلمية.
April 25, 2009 at 12:05 pm · Filed under conferences and tagged: Alesco, Creative Commons, damascus, Jordan, Syria
I am going to attend tomorrow this very interesting conference which has been co-organised by Alesco, King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology and the Arab Academy of Damascus.
The programme is very rich in contributions coming from all across the Arab world (there are also contributions from the US and France) touching important topics for the future development of Arabic content through new technologies and the Internet. Issues like the terminology used for computer science will be widely discussed.
On the 28th at 9.45 Ziad Maraqa, Creative Commons’ co-lead in Jordan, will be delivering a speech about Creative Commons in the Arab world.
المنظمة العربية للتربية والثقافة والعلوم
مدينة الملك عبدالعزيز للعلوم والتقنية
بالتعاون مع مجمع اللغة العربية
بدمشق
اجتماع خبراء المحللات الصرفية الحاسوبية للغة العربية
دمشق 26-28/4/ 2009
جدول الأعمال المقترح
الأحد 26/4/2009
9.00-9.30 كلمات الافتتاح
9.30-10.15 المحلل الصرفي للغة العربية لمخبر” ميراكل”
تقديم د عبدالمجيد بن حمادو – تونس
10.15-11.00 محلل صرفي عربي موجه بالتطبيقات
تقديم د.محمد سعيد الدسوقي – سوريا
11…-11.15 استراحة
11.15-12.00 محلل صرفي للكلمات العربية : خارج السياق وداخله
تقديم د.عزالدين مزروعي – المغرب
12.00-12.45 محلل صرفي للغة العربية
تقديم د. ابراهيم خراشي - السعودية
12.45-13.30 تصميم وتنفيذ محلل صرفي للغة العربية باستخدام تقانات
الذكاء الصنعي
د.فاضل سكر – د.سمر معطي - سوريا
13.30-14.00 مناقشة عامة
استراحة الغذاء
16.00-17.00 واقع المحللات الصرفية الحاسوبية للغة العربية – د.سلوى
حمادة
17.00-18.00 تقرير في المحللات الصرفية للغة العربية - د.محمد زايد
الاثنين 27/4/2009
9.00- برنامج (مداد)للتحليل الصرفي للكلمات
العربية
تقديم عبدالمنعم فريد عبدالمنعم-محمود محمد
صابر - مصر
9.45-10.30 محلل صرفي للغة العربية
تقديم المهندس مجدي صوالحة - بريطانيا
10.30-11.15
ElixixirFM Functional Arabic Morphology.case Studies
تشيكيا Dr.Otakar Smrz
11.15-11.30 استراحة
11.30-12.15
Buckwalter Arabic Morphological Analyzer (BAMA) in Arabic Presentation
Form
Authors: Tim Buckwalter (Qamus.org) and Nizar Habash (Columbia
University)
USA
12.15-12.30
محلل صرفي للغة العربية
Fathi Debili (Directeur de recherche)
Laboratoire LLACAN – UMR 8135 du CNRS
Langage, langues et cultures d’Afrique Noire -FRANCE
12.30-13.15 آليات تقييم المحللات الصرفية
مقترح د.سلوى حمادة
13.15-13.45 آليات تقييم المحللات الصرفية
مقترح د.محمد سعيد الدسوقي
الثلاثاء 28/4/2009
9.00-9.45 حول المحللات الحاسوبية المشاركة في الاجتماع
الأستاذ مروان البواب
9.45-10.15 مفهوم تراخيص المشاع الابداعي لحماية حقوق المؤلف والترجمة
القانونية
الأستاذ زياد مرقة - الاردن
10.15-11.00 مشروع أيه –سبل
القاموس العربي للتدقيق الاملائي مفتوح المصدر-تجربة
وآفاق
تقديم طه زروقي – الجزائر
11.00-13.00 مناقشة التوصيات والتقرير الختامي
April 21, 2009 at 10:03 am · Filed under filmaking, training and tagged: Jordan, Royal Film Commision
I’ve already posted about Royal Film Commission in Jordan and the very interesting activities they are organising in Amman and all across Jordan.
This is a great opportunity for Arab filmakers or wannabees to present their film scripts and have the opportunity to join the Middle East Screenwriters Lab. Have a look at the following info:
Are you a screenwriter or a filmmaker working on your first or second narrative feature film script?
Would you like to further develop your screenplay?
The Call for Submission is now open for
RAWI- The 5th Middle East Screenwriters Lab
In Jordan
October 3rd – 7th 2009
The Royal Film Commission- Jordan is holding the fifth edition of the screenwriters’ workshop RAWI- the Middle East Screenwriters Lab in Jordan, in consultation with Sundance Institute. The program will take place from the 3rd till 7th of October 2009 in Wadi Feynan, Jordan.
RAWI is designed for emerging Arab filmmakers working on their first or second narrative feature screenplay. It provides an opportunity to develop your script with the guidance of veteran screenwriters who will embrace your vision and help you find the most compelling way to tell your story. You will meet one-on-one with creative advisors for intensive story sessions and individual dialogues to further develop your script.
Both English and Arabic scripts will be accepted for submission. Interested applicants are to send an e-mail to: rawi@film.jo
The submission deadline is on the 15th of June 2009.
For further information, please contact the Royal Film Commission at:
The Royal Film Commission- Jordan
Tel: +962 6 461 3835 ext: 117
Email: rawi@film.jo
Website: www.film.jo
هل أنت كاتب سيناريو وتعمل على مشروعك الروائي الأول أو الثاني؟
هل ترغب بتقديم مشروعك للمشاركة بورشة عمل كتّاب السيناريو
وتطويره؟
الدعوة للمشاركة مفتوحة الآن لورشة “راوي” الخامسة لكتاب السيناريو
في الأردن من 3 إلى 7 تشرين الأول 2009
للعام الخامس على التوالي وبالتعاون مع مؤسسة سندانس تعلن الهيئة الملكية الأردنية للأفلام عن قبول طلبات المشاركة بورشة عمل كتّاب السيناريو “راوي” والتي ستقام في وادي فينان- الأردن من الثالث إلى السابع من تشرين الأول 2009.
تستهدف الورشة كتّاب سيناريو الأفلام العرب وتتيح الفرصة لهم لتطوير نصهم السينمائي من خلال جلسات فردية مع كتّاب عالميين ومتخصصين. تهدف هذه اللقاءات إلى مساعدة كتّاب السيناريو على صقل مهاراتهم القصصية والكتابية وتطوير مشاريعهم وتحفيزهم من خلال اقتراح أساليب متعددة تساعدهم في المراحل المختلفة للكتابة الإبداعية.
تقبل الطلبات باللغتين العربية أو الانجليزية وآخر موعد لاستلامها هو الخامس عشر من حزيران 2009.
للمزيد من المعلومات والتقديم للورشة الرجاء الكتابة إلى العنوان التالي: rawi@film.jo
أو الاتصال بالهيئة الملكية الأردنية للأفلام
هاتف: +962 6 461 3835، فرعي 117
البريد الإلكتروني: rawi@film.jo
www.film.jo
February 19, 2009 at 12:30 am · Filed under Internet and tagged: Arab crunch, Dart, egypt, Facebook, Ikbis, Jordan, Maktoob, Mashable, start ups, Twitter, You Tube
Jordan seems to be once more the new emerging “place to be” in the Arab world in terms of new technologies.
The event organised on next 23rd february in Amman by Arabcrunch and Dart looks really a “must go”.
Arab Crunch Demo is an open stage for promising new tech companies and start ups all across the Arab world to pitch their ideas in front of fellow entrepreneurs, CEOs, venture capitalists, IT professionals, IT students, media, and early tech adopters.
For this first exciting demo the organisers have selected3 startups from Egypt:
- weNear: Mobile location based framework.
- Adhere: the first mobile open source server.
- Al-Khawarizmy: Beyond the words Arabic embedded Search.
2 Startups from Jordan:
- Ishki: The Arab complaints web 2.0 vortal.
- MailPacks: SaaS Auto responder.
and 3 keynote speakers coming from all around the world (have a look at their bios)
- Herve Cuviliez: Managing Director, KuvCapital.
- Khaled Jabasini: Founder and CEO, E-Marketing MENA.
- Sumaya Kazi Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief at The CulturalConnect, Senior Social Media Manager at Sun Microsystems.
Among the sponsors of the event, Ikbis the “You Tube” Arab style, Maktoob one of the most popular online community in the Arab world and Mashable the world famous blog focused on web 2.0.
The organisers of this really cool and brand new event are Dart, the student’s entrepreneurship society of Queen Rania Center for Enterpreneurship in Amman; and Arabcrunch, Gaith Saqer’s brilliant professional blog dedicated to profiling and reviewing Arab originated technology startups and existing Internet and mobile companies, and their products and services. Arabcrunch carries really interesting articles and reviews on Arab startups, together with updates with news and event like the Jordan Twestival or Twitter festival.
Mabrouk to Gaith for this cool iniative! Once more, this proves that new generations in the Arab world are very active and willing to experiment new creative ideas. As for us in the Western media, we should really try to have a better look into this vibrant reality of people doing cool things, instead of always focusing on wars, terror and alleged backwardness coming from the Region.
February 4, 2009 at 9:25 am · Filed under conferences, Internet and tagged: Creative Commons, Jordan, Lebanon, open source, Syria
A good news for the open source scene. Two great events are running -or going to run- this month in the Arab region. The first one it’s called the iFoss09 and it’s currently going on in Damascus, Syria at the SCS Center, Tishreen Park in Omaween Square. The programme is rich in events and as far as I know this is the first time that such topics are debated for the entire week and in such an institutional place. There is a growing interest in Syria for the open source related topics and a very active community made up of very young people that have a great enthusiasm over those issues. Ziad Maraqa, Creative Commons’ lead in Jordan, talked yesterday about the latest developments of CC in the Arab region, mentioning also the recent launch of the Al Jazeera Creative Commons repository which is generating lots of interesting debates all across the web. Watch out the Computer Science in Syria’s website http://www.csc-sy.net for future developments of this very interesting syrian techy community.
As for neighbouring Lebanon, Beirut is going to host Open Sesame, the first ever Arab barcamp on feb. 28th (the place is still in discussion but most probably will the very cool Rootspace of Dave Munir Nabti). Lots of interesting topics have been proposed like the “arabization of the web”, which is a core issue to be debated in the Arab world. The critical mass of Arabic content on the web is still very underdeveloped if you think about the great potential reach of the Arabic language (spoken by more than 300 millions people) and of a population which is made up mostly by youngsters. This young energy has to be “exploited” by the Arab people and it has to be turned in content creation and innovation over the Internet.
The Arab region has been -and, unfortunately, it is still- covered mostly in terms of conflicts, wars, violence, while there is much more going on. We have to encourage and support such events and all the energy coming out from them if we really want to change the Arab world and its bad -and wrong- image in front of the rest of the world.
Please, do join the organisation of the Open Sesame Barcamp, do propose topics and do come to Beirut on the 28th of feb. It will be a lot of fun and a lot of interesting issues will be debated by a young and vibrant Arab community.
January 10, 2009 at 9:01 am · Filed under media, war and tagged: Al Jazeera, Chavez, Gaza, Hasan Nasrallah, Jordan, Muslim Brotherhood, Nader Dahabi
Jordan Prime Minister Nader Dahabi has formally apologized with Al Jazeera‘s Amman bureau chief Yasser Abu Helalah who was beated by the police, together with other Jordanian staff member of the channel, during a massive demonstration pro-Gaza on friday. Many Jordanians are Palestianians or of Palestinian origin and we can immagine to what extent the Gaza attacks are effecting them. Yesterday there were massive demonstrations all across the countries -one of them, in Amman, being organised by the Muslim Brotherhood is reported to have hosted more than 100.000 people- protesting against Israel and calling upon the abrogation of the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.
With the hostilities continuing in Gaza and the anger of the “Arab streets” growing, this would reflect also on Arab governments that are reputed -now more than ever- to be guilty for what’s happening by the Arab public opinions, fostered by Arab TV channels or leaders like Nasrallah that is claiming Arab governments’ responsibility in this crisis.
Many Arabs are demostrating those days across the Arab world. They are expressing an anger that has always been there -an anger which is aimed at their own goverments as much as it is aimed at Israel-.
With the escalation of violence in Gaza, and if the Arab governments are perceived not to do anything for the Gaza people, the situation risks to become explosive fro many other Arab countries. The risk of destabilising all the Arab region is there.
Hasan Nasrallah said, in one of his last speeches, that the only “positive thing that we are witnessing in the Arab world during those days is that the Arab people are alive, are demostrating all across the Arab world, and they are putting pressure on their governments”.
Nasrallah reminded the Arabs, during the Ashura, that Chavez has expelled the Israeli ambassador proving himself to be more Palestinian that all the Arab governments.
November 28, 2008 at 6:35 pm · Filed under media, musalsalat and tagged: Afghanistan, Arab Telemedia, egypt, Emmy Award, Jordan, LBC, MBC, Najdat I. Anzour, Palestine, Shawqi Al Majiri, Syria, Tunisia
Times are changing and the Arab media is starting to be considered a mature media system, if it is able to gain the prestigious Emmy International Award.
“Al Ijtiyah” (The invasion) is the first ever Arab musalsal (soap opera) to win such a famous and international prize, beating the very well known telenovelas as the Brasilian ” Paradise of the tropical forest ” which was in the final shortlist. “Al Ijtiyah” is the perfect example of a Panarab production: many actors come from Syria, the production company is from Jordan and the director Shawqi Al Majiri from Tunisia. As for the story, it is focused on Palestine: an impossibile love affair between a Palestinian man and an Israeli woman, the set being real events happened in the Middle East in the past years, like the Israeli raid and violent massacre of the Palestinian population of Jenin in 2002.
Placing the love story in a real setting and tackling political and social issues -the so called “hot potato”- is something that Arab musalsalat have been doing since the beginning of this TV genre, created in the early 60s thanks to former Egyptian president Gamal Nasser. But in the past years the popularity of the Egyptian TV drama is decreasing, being it very much “star-centered” and tailored on big actors/actresses without paying too much attention to other important details, like the scriptwriting of the story, the rest of the cast, the quality of the production, etc.
Now other minor industries are challenging the monopoly of Egypt in this genre: first of all, Syria which in the past years has produced lot of high-quality drama (like the work of Najdat I. Anzour). Now also Jordan and Palestine are doing their best to compete, and apparently with a lot of success.
Arab Telemedia, the production company who’s behind the Emmy awarded musalsal, is not new to quality drama production, and also not new to polemics. Few years ago they produced “Tariq ila Kabul” (The road to Kabul), a very high quality musalsal dealing with the history of Afghanistan, from the USSR to the American occupation, passing by the Taleban and Bin Laden. The soap was prevented from broadcasting when it was already on air on Panarab channel MBC.
“Al Ijtiyah” had similar problems: nobody among the Arab channels would have bought it for the very sensitive topic it was tackling, except from Lebanese station LBC which aired it in Ramadan 2007.
We all hope that, after getting this important international prize, the musalsal will be aired as all the other high quality musalsalat that have been produced in the past years in the Arab region and prevented from broadcasting.
November 24, 2008 at 9:20 pm · Filed under Internet, online publications and tagged: Ammon news, citizen journalism, Jordan
I came to know this very interesting webnews project in Jordan called Ammonnews (the ancient name of Jordan’s beautiful capital Amman). One of the two guys who’s behind it is named Sameer Al Hayari, a very cool Jordanian in his forties who had this brilliant idea two years ago with his colleague Bassel Okoor. They both had a journalistic background, but they felt they would have need something more. A media which would have enjoyed less constraints, both in terms of freedom of expression and also in terms of distributing the news. And to publish “live” news, of course. It was 2006, in Jordan there was no such thing as a news webportal grassroots based.
I just met Sameer, he was sitting in Donner Cafe, the place in Amman where they usually meet up to write down stuff for the website. It’s like an office, an open office, where everybody gathers every evening to write down articles, smoke narghila and drink tea together. It’s like an open space, wireless of course, people keep coming and going, some of them sit at the table and write down pieces of news, some others drink tea and discuss about politics. Other people just come to bring fresh news, about what’s happening in town. Or they come to speak with Sameer. His phone is ringing like crazy while the websites is updated live. A modern, cool, networked newsroom!
Contributions come from the web and mobiles, from citizens that want to debate local issues, and from professional journalists that enjoy giving Ammonnews their articles for free. Why? Because the website has become the “place to be”.
“When we started we were just the two of us”, says Sameer while smoking narghila the oriental way. “We wanted to create something new, something fresh, and we just did it, without any funding, just with our pocket money and our passion. Our model was Detnews.com, so we asked the webmaster to design a website on the similar scheme. Then we asked our network of journalists’ friends to send us contributions, and little by little the site started to be well known. After one year of life, the former goverment shut down the website because of its free spirit in talking about politics. This provocked a huge phenomena, never seen before: people were just protesting cause the website has become so popular that the people wanted it to stay. So the government was pushed to re-open it”.
“After this, the website boomed and the number of contributors and readers increased very quickly. So we started to take advertising, mostly coming from local companies, and this has become our business model. Now we have ten people working for us, and we are doing very well. We will open an english service soon, inshallah!”.
Well, if you google them in Arabic, you will see that they has become a source for other news organisation, like Radio Sawa (the American radio station in Arabic) among the others. And all the people in Jordan take it as a reference for being informed about what’s happening in the country, also the government people are calling them to react to articles and debate about what they have published. It’s a virtuous circle between readers and news makers, professionals and amateurs, government and citizens.
I think Ammonnews is a great example of how a grassroot experiment can be born, become well known and find also a sustanaibility and a business model. And, again, it’s another good example of how Jordan is quickly moving forward to innovation and creativity. A place to watch out for future trends in the Arab region.
Ana wa Sameer in Donner Cafe, Amman
Ammonnews “office” in Donner Cafe, Amman
November 22, 2008 at 5:00 pm · Filed under filmaking, media, training and tagged: Jordan, Royal Film Commission
I am currently out in Amman, Jordan and I am discovering an exciting forming filmaking industry. Jordan does not have a strong background in filmaking and movie industry (it has produced only a very few number of feature films), neither it is an oil rich country like the Gulf which is compensating the lack of tradition in the audiovisual industry with a good injection of money to create a new one.Indeed, it has a very promising future in the field of creativity in media.
A Jordanian animation company, called Media Plus, has just won the Silver Award at the Cairo Arab Media Festival with its cartoon series“Nahfat Ailetna” which tells a lot about Jordanian society in a very nice and entertaining way. But this is not the only good news for the country. Institutions like the Royal Film Commission are doing a great job to raise up a new generation of filmakers by providing training in the audiovisual field and by renting the film equipment to who wants to practise filmaking. The team of the RFC is all made up by young people, plenty of talent and energy.
Like Sarah, the lebanese young lady who teaches camera and filmaking. I attended her class today and have to say that I have rarely seen such an energy and a talent in teaching technical stuff. She was also enriching her lessons by quoting all sorts of films, from the “Russian Ark” by Russian director Sokurov to “L’Avventura” by Antonioni: films that I have rarely heard quoted in a similar course in Europe. I would really love to introduce people like Sarah to the ones in Europe who say -too often- that we should “train” the young ones in the Arab world, teach them how to use the digital technologies, etc etc. During the last Euromed meeting I attented in Cairo few days ago this attitude was sometime out once again, and I think it’s very bad that the people in Europe still have their eyes closed on what’s happening in the Arab world. Young people in the Arab world are gifted, talented and plenty of energy and creativity like Sarah, plus they know very well how to use digital media.
The group in the RFC is exactly proving this. They are active, plenty of talent, and they are trying to build up an industry and a new generation of filmakers in a very passionate way.
They also have a very cool movie library that they are trying to build up and a very cosy screening room where people will be able to seat and watch European movies as well as Arab, Asian, American, etc. This gorgeous screening room has been designed by two young architects, Jordanian of course. Keep an eye on this new generation of Jordanian people that will be booming with such a passion!
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