JSFF '09 FAQ
WHAT IS THE JORDAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL?
The Jordan Short Film Festival (JSFF) was established as an art film festival, not a commercial or entertainment film festival. We aim to provide a platform for indie Jordanian and Diaspora Palestinian filmmakers as well as other indie Arab filmmakers to showcase their short films while keeping in touch with the latest developments in the indie filmmaking movements world-wide. The JSFF is managed by the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative (AFC) a film collective based in Amman, Jordan, established by Mr. Hazim M. Bitar.
WHEN DOES THE JSFF TAKE PLACE AND WHERE?
The JSFF has both a fixed and a rolling program. The fixed program is the Arab and international short film competitions. Both take place during November 11-14, 2009.
After that 14th, the JSFF kicks off a number of national competitions, workshops, and screenings, with a rolling screening schedule in various regions in Jordan, lasting well into 2010.
WHAT ABOUT OTHER JSFF PROGRAMS?
We have national competitions that give amature local filmmakers a chance to compete in a less rigorous environment outside the festival's official Arab and international short film competitions. The local competitions include All-Films-Look-The-Same competition, whereby local filmmakers produce films based on the same simple script. Then there is the Intro To Filmmaking Workshop series. The prerequisite to register for theseworkshop is to attend a minimum number of hours at the JSFF, to ensure future filmmakers can develop an appreciation of artistic, noncommercial cinema.
THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT PALESTINIAN CONTENT IN THE FILM PROGRAM.
That's often the case. We cannot pretend we exist in a vacuum, when next door in Palestine war crimes of unimaginable magnitude are being committed by Israelis against Palestinians. Ignoring the horrors committed by Israelis is not neutrality, it is a racist decision. Silence in the face of injustice is a statement, and a loud and clear one. There is nothing complicated about millions of Palestinians expelled and others who rot in squalid refugee camps, one generation after another, to make space for another people, the israelis, who expelled them at gun point. Art devoid of humanity is a crime against art.
WHY WAS THE JSFF FOUNDED?
The JSFF was founded as an educational and indie festival to showcase films from around the world for the benefit of students of the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative and other Jordanian indie filmmakers who had zero or little exposure to cinema outside that of Hollywood and Arab commercial films. We want to provide the general public with an eclectic selection of short films to help expand their artistic horizons and to bring the best in world cinema to those who otherwise would not have been able to attend film festivals.
Also, the JSFF started as a forum to promote films from the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative in response to systematic exclusion of Cooperative films by local official cultural entities.
WHY ARE COOPERATIVE FILMS EXCLUDED FROM MONETARY PRIZES, WASN'T THE FESTIVAL ORIGINALLY MADE TO SHOWCASE COOPERATIVE FILMS? AREN'T FESTIVAL VOLUNTEERS MOSTLY COOPERATIVE FILMMAKERS?
As soon as the festival competition was opened to non-Cooperative films, it was necessary to resolve any conflict of interest, real or perceived. The only way to do that is to exclude Cooperative films from any monetary prizes. The juries are instructed to not consider Cooperative films for Best Film awards. Yet, Cooperative films may still receive special mentions, if the jury so chooses, so long as no monetary prizes are involved. Cooperative filmmakers get their ultimate reward when we provide them with free training, mentoring, production support, and international distribution of their films. Few Cooperative filmmakers complain about this tradeoff.
ARE THERE ANY SALARIED EMPLOYEES OF THE JSFF, PART-TIME OR FULL-TIME?
From the start and as of 2009, no one in festival management , selection committees, or juries got paid. There is no budget to pay salaries. The whole concept behind the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative and the Jordan Short Film Festival is survival cinema, which is cinema under any circumstances with any budget, or no budget.
HOW MANY FILMS WERE SUBMITTED TO JSFF IN 2009? WERE THERE ISSUES?
Online, we have over 500 short film submissions. That's a major jump from last year where we received little over 300 short films. Lost mail within the postal system continues to be a problem. With the drastic drop in ADSL internet prices, and rise in quality of compressed video such as H.264 we are seriously considering uploading films as an acceptable form of film submission. We have to factor in the cost to filmmakers and to the festival, and also the ability of filmmakers in developing countries to benefit from this technology. Technology helped us overcome many filmmaking challenges in the past. With the widespread availability of the DVD, it helped with low cost film distribution, but the postal system continues to be a black hole. With affordable high-speed internet, we might be able to overcome geographic as will as bureaucratic barriers. We could be a year or two away from receiving film submissions via the internet.
DOES THE WORLD NEED ANOTHER FILM FESTIVAL?
Of course. The more festivals the better. We, as Cooperative filmmakers, benefited from the Jordan Short Film Festival when our films were not given the chance to screen locally at official cultural events (and they still don't get screened in official cultural exchanges between Jordan and other countries). And as filmmakers, we benefited from the increase in film festivals in the Arab world and internationally. It means more people watching our films and more competitions to win. Had there not been the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, for example, we would not have won the $75000 Black Pearl Prize for Best Short Film. We managed to upgrade our production capabilities with the award money. So yes, the more the better. And had there not been the Jordan Short Film Festival, talented filmmakers like Rami Kodeih from Lebanon and Giuseppe Schettino from Italy would not have won the 3000 Euro prizes in 2007 and many film fans would not have enjoyed their films in Jordan.
DOES THE ARAB FILMMAKING INTELLIGENTSIA ACCEPT THE JSFF?
Some do but others insist on either pitying us or heaping scorn upon us. In the Arab world, a "real" film festival is one with a budget big enough to pay airfare to dozens of guests, fund lavish opening and closing galas, and attract celebrities. Of course only government film festivals enjoy such budgets, considering film festivals are commercially non-viable in the Arab world. Since we don't pay airfare for guests, other than jury, and we don't have galas and celebrities, we must be doomed to insignificance according to conventional wisdom. It's all in the galas and airfares, not the films, some insist.
The concept of art film festivals is an alien one in this part of the neighborhood. We are waiting for the film criticism scene to mature. It's a matter of time. We still remember the fierce resistance to video, just 5 years ago, as a filmmaking tool. Today, few local film critics dare to discount video as a filmmaking tool for fear of being seen as dinosaurs.
Soon, art film festivals will also be in vogue here. Local film criticism is still 10 years behind, with few notable exceptions. Many local film critics look up to Hollywood and Arab TV drama as benchmark for "real" filmmaking. Most never even attended one session of the Jordan Short Film Festival or any short film program for that matter. Younger Arab film critics seem to embrace art films and festivals with greater openness. It's a matter of time. Always been.
HOW COME YOU ARE NOT THE JORDAN "INTERNATIONAL" SHORT FILM FESTIVAL?
Our primary focus is on Jordanian and diaspora Palestinian audiences in Jordan and their exposure to latest in international indie filmmaking trends and developments. We are not focused on international audiences and don't have the resources to fund and manage international guests.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING FOR THIS SESSION OF THE JSFF
The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture funded the awards, international jury, and AV projection.
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NOTE: Below is an interview with festival director published last year 2008. The above is an updated and abridged version of the 2008 interview.
EXPLAINING THE JORDAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2008
Q & A with Festival Director Hazim Bitar by Suha Ali
http://www.africultures.com/php/index.php?nav=evenement&no=17697
