STORY: Amman Int'l film festival kicks off 
SHOOTING TIME: July 3, 2024
DATELINE: July 4, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:19
LOCATION: Amman
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the event
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): NADA DOMANI, Festival director
3. various of the event
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): Princess RYM ALI, President of the festival
5. various of the event

STORYLINE:

The 5th edition of the Amman International Film Festival was launched at King Hussein Cultural Center in Jordan's capital Amman on Wednesday.

During the festival, 50 films from around the world will compete in several different categories, including Arab feature films, short films, international films, and documentaries.

This year, the festival will continue until the 11th of July, under the theme "our stories, our narratives" to promote Arab stories and novels, support the national narrative, and convey the voices of Arab filmmakers to the world.

Festival director Nada Domani stressed the importance of this year's edition in attracting more countries to participate in the festival in the coming years.  

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): NADA DOMANI, Festival director
"The theme for this year is 'our stories, our narratives.' And this is kind of, if I may say, inspired by what's going on in the region, where we felt more than ever that it's needed to tell our stories with our own voices and to the world. We also have films from countries that supported what we believe." 
At the opening ceremony, the festival's president, Princess Rym Ali, said that despite the ongoing suffering in Palestine, Sudan and others, they are committed to holding the festival as a space to support cinema because art supports life, adding that there is no time more important than this when they tell their true stories as they witness the distortion of stories.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): Princess RYM ALI, President of the festival
"The focus this year on 'our stories, our narratives' is really because we want to remind everybody that it's very important for the voices from the Arab world to be heard. What is happening, of course, in Palestine, and especially in Gaza, we thought it would be very important to make these stories heard. And that's why the first films that we are showing, one of them is from Gaza, actually filmed in Gaza during the actual war, which I think is very brave."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Amman.
(XHTV)