Eight fiction and non-fiction films supported by AFAC will be showcased at the Amman International Film Festival this July.
Hailing from Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, each of these films takes audiences on a bold and intimate journey—exploring the outer world while revealing hidden dimensions of the self.
In Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo by Egyptian director Khaled Mansour, 20-year-old Hassan sets out to save his only friend—his dog Rambo—from an unknown threat. But as his neighborhood and society turn on him, Hassan finds himself confronting dangers far greater than he anticipated, ultimately facing his deepest fears in a journey of self-discovery.
From Palestine, Mahdi Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown is the story of two friends—Eyad and Chatila—who flee their refugee camp in Lebanon in search of a better life in Europe. Their journey takes them to Athens, where betrayal by a smuggler leaves them struggling to survive in a country facing social and economic collapse.
In the Tunisian film Red Path, two young cousins grazing their flock in the mountains are attacked by Jihadists. Accused of being an army informant, 16-year-old Nizar is decapitated, and 14-year-old Achraf is ordered to deliver his cousin's severed head as a message to their family. Carrying this horrific burden, Achraf embarks on a painful, transformative journey.
Tell Them About Us, a documentary by Jordanian filmmaker Rand Beiruty, follows a clique of Arab, Kurdish and Roma teenage girls coming of age in rural Germany. Facing both hidden discrimination and family expectations, the girls turn to the camera to stage their conflicts and wildest dreams.
Iraqi filmmaker Oday Rasheed’s Songs of Adam centers on 12-year-old Adam, who decides he will not grow older. As he tries to defy the passage of time, his choice reverberates through his relationship with his brother and family, revealing the tensions between their family unit and those around them.
In Thank You for Banking With Us by Palestinian filmmaker Laila Abbas, two sisters unite after their father’s death to fight for their inheritance. Under Sharia law, their brother is entitled to twice as much—a fact the sisters are unwilling to accept without a fight.
Abo Zaabal 89, by Egyptian filmmaker Bassam Mortada, is a personal excavation of family trauma and intergenerational memory.
Finally, the Lebanese documentary We Are Inside by Farah Kassem follows the filmmaker as she joins her father’s all-male classical poetry club—the only way she can meaningfully connect with him, despite her own indifference to poetry.
For more information and the screening schedule, visit the festival’s official website.