The Fameck Arab Film Festival is back – and its 35th year is dedicated to Jordan. The event will be held in Fameck and Val de Fensch in northern France from October 3rd to 13th.
Each year the festival screens around forty films reflecting the diversity and wealth of current Arab cinema. This year’s guest country, Jordan, will be present in the Grand Prix category, with films like Zaid Abu Hamdan’s Les filles d’Abul-Rahman (2022) and Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha’s animated film Saleem (2023). A special day is dedicated to the first two parts of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy, which were filmed in Jordan. Ahmad Alkhatib, from the Royal Film Commission will be present.
As well as the Grand Prix, there are several other awards: the Youth Jury Award, the Press Jury Award, the Audience Award, the Documentary Award and the Short Film Award. In the running for the Press Award the documentary Les Filles du Nil (The Brink of Dreams) by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir takes us into the heart of a remote and conservative village in southern Egypt. A group of young Coptic girls rebel by forming a street theatre club. Dreaming of becoming actresses, dancers and singers, they defy their families and the entire community with the controversial subject-matter they choose to perform. The film won the Oeil d’Or for documentary at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Sources: Festival du film Arabe de Fameck
