AMMAN — This year’s return of the Amman International Film Festival (AIFF) will continue to highlight debut achievements in film from around the world, with a focus on Arab cinema.

The third edition of the Amman AIFF, titled “First Film, First Love”, will take place between July 20 and July 27, the organisers announced during a press conference on Monday.

The festival will screen 52 films from 29 producing countries, all of which were released in 2021 and 2022.

“This is the third edition of the festival, but we can consider it the first complete edition because of the restrictions that we have known over the last two years,” Festival Director and Co-founder Nada Doumani told The Jordan Times.

“People are now more confident to mingle and to connect,” she noted.

Doumani added that the festival will be “bigger and closer to what we aim for as a film festival, according to international standards”.

The AIFF will screen the movies in the open-air theatre at the Royal Film Commission (RFC), TAJ Cinemas and the drive-in cinema in Abdali, with screenings also taking place outside the capital in Irbid, Aqaba and Salt.

Doumani stated that the theme for this year’s festival is both a reference to the festival’s focus on first time achievements in film and “a theme of reconnecting with people and reconnecting with love of cinema”.

As part of the festival, the Amman Film Industry Days will facilitate a series of workshops, panels and three pitching platforms for projects in development and post-production.

The festival will also host a number of international guests, including Egyptian film director Yousry Nasrallah. A special segment of the festival, titled “First and Latest” will be dedicated to Nasrallah, where he will give a talk at the RFC, offering a closer look at his personal cinematic journey.

The featured films will compete across four categories: Arab Feature-Length Narrative Film, Arab Feature-Length Documentary Film, Arab Short film and International Film.

The best in each category will be awarded the Black Iris trophy and a cash prize. There will also be an out-of-competition section titled “Franco-Arab Rendez-Vous”, where the AIFF is hosting the Franco-Arab Film Festival for the second year in a row.

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