This is a program that aims at establishing a cinema bridge in the remembrance of the overland travel route between Beirut, Damascus, Amman, & Jerusalem. It's a romantic attempt to evoke the bonds that connect peoples of the Levant and the Arab World through film screenings.
The project aims to bring about the communication and interdependence of the people of the region with the social bonds that have formed over hundreds of years. Damascus’ warmth is recalled by honouring it through this project, which will be built by three cities close to Damascus as a historical and social point. Damascus is known to be the city bustling with life and love; the gate of nostalgia and the image of Damascus live free of death, killing and destruction. The door that makes us feel a duty towards fighting and reversing the destruction. The link comes to create humanitarian ties that impose a responsibility on the sons of Beirut, Amman and the West Bank to deal with refugees and improve the social conditions of their homeland.
The second edition of CIT aims to be held in Beirut, Amman and the Qalandiya check point in the west bank. Where simultaneous screenings of human rights films will be mounted to an audience composed of youth members, activists, journalists and human rights professionals in addition to the general public.
A film package composed of productions from the Arab world as well as international releases that speak closely to the theme of the project will be constructed and subtitled to Arabic. This would give exposure to regional films and the teams behind them in addition to screening relevant films that tackle issues like identity, displacement, and the longing for home in an ever changing environment.
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Cinema without borders
In the year 2014, Karama HRFF hosted, together with ‘’Movies that Matter’’, the sixth edition of Cinema without Borders’ workshop. This is a four-day program on how to organize a human rights film festival which was held between the 6th and the 10th of December 2014.
Within this workshop, fourteen participants from the Middle East and North Africa have participated in this high-level program where in which they shared their experiences, gained technical and practical knowledge and fresh ideas and had the possibility to expand their network of peer organizations and practioners.
Examples of topics which had been tackled during the workshop are:
- Content: film selection / Programming / Debates
- Building: Audiences / Publicity / Impact
- Management: Festival organization / Fundraising / Service & Network
- Specials: Education program / Mobile Cinema
The workshop aims at inspiring and assisting participants to overcome challenges during the organization of their own festivals in their countries. The workshops were led by international festival directors, experts on film educations and founders of the Karama Festival.