This week, Amman will see the opening of the fourth annual Arab Film Festival in the Royal Film Commission. The festival will run from Monday to Sunday and will host films from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt.
On Monday (9:30 pm), the festival will kick off with the screening of “May in the Summer”, by the Jordanian Cherien Dabis. The movie tells the story of May – a successful woman born to a Christian family – who comes back home to Amman in preparation for her wedding from her fiancé Ziyad, a Muslim. May’s seemingly perfect life falls to pieces as she is forced to deal with the challenges she faces in Amman. The film has participated in several international film festivals, including Sundance Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival.
For more details about the screening of this film and the rest of the festival’s films (“Bastardo” from Tunisia, “Mariam” from Syria, “They are the Dogs” from Morocco, “Mostefa Ben Boulaid” from Algeria, “Void” from Lebanon and “Rags and Tatters” from Egypt), follow this link.
ArchitectureInMotion continue their movie nights on 7iberCafe’s rooftops with the screening of “Unfinished Spaces” (Tuesday, 10:00 pm). The filmis a documentary which tells the story of Cuba’s ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young visionary architects: Ricardo Porro, Roberto Gottardi and Vittorio Garatti. The project gets neglected, nearly forgotten, and then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece. This 2011 movie features intimate footage of Fidel Castro, showing his devotion to creating a worldwide showcase for art, and it also documents the struggle and passion of three revolutionary artists. More details on this screening can be found here.
7iberCafe will also host a talk by the Turkish architect and sociologist Pelin Tan, organized by Amman Lab. In her talk, “Transversal Instituting: On Refugees, Alliances, and Labor”, Tan will be addressing refugee conditions, the urgency and design of camps, and related co-existence of public spaces, and communities in conflict territories along the border. (Thursday, 9:00 pm)
As for music, Bargo’s will host a Jam session featuring: Dirar Shawagfeh, Maxim Al Adham, Odai Shawagfeh, and Basel Naouri. (Thursday, 9:30 pm). Also on Thursday, “Random House” will be playing a fusion of Indie, Reggae, and Punk Rock mixed with Sufi music at Jadal. (9:30 pm)
For more events, visit 7iber’s cultural calendar and write us on [email protected] if we missed any events you think we should include.