Foreword I take pride in informing visitors and interlocutors that, unlike most commissions in the world, the RFC organizes training all over the country and is increasingly working with the youth, including in public schools. The communities I had the privilege of visiting recently in the south have a great deal to be proud of. The children, boys and girls, young men and women in Aqaba and Wadi Rum are pushing the boundaries every day just by sharing stories through videos. Others, by trying to learn more and more about the process of filmmaking, are training in a variety of technical skills and also scriptwriting. Meeting the children and adolescents, who have been taking these workshops and hopping on the cine-bus when it passes their neighborhood, was rewarding in an entirely different way and allowed me to feel how tangible the impact has been. I am grateful to the filmmakers, technicians and experts who took the time to travel far from the capital and share their knowledge. I hope they are aware of the impact they have had on the young people they have trained. 55 At the Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC), and generally speaking in Jordan, we are proud to mention that famous movies are being filmed in the Kingdom. We happily cite the main commercial ones with which a wide audience is likely to be familiar: “Lawrence of Arabia”, “The Martian”, “Transformers”, “Aladdin”, “Star Wars”, to name only a few that used the beautiful backdrop of Wadi Rum to make magic on the silver screen. One of the RFC’s activities, but which is not receiving the same amount of attention, is its work with children and young people precisely in this area, training them to tell stories through films or showing them movies they probably wouldn’t see elsewhere. In the film centers, created by the RFC in various governorates and supported by the Drosos Foundation and Zain Telecom, hundreds of boys and girls have been taught to express themselves with confidence and tell their stories. All year round, two cine-buses are reaching remote areas south of Jordan, welcoming kids interested in this form of art. Along with other members of the Board of the RFC, we worked hard to bring films like “Aladdin” to Jordan to offer, among other things, job opportunities and encourage young people to work in this field. I have often felt that we need to make sure that cinema culture was also something we can build and own, as per the RFC’s initial plan set up by its founder and Chairman, my husband Prince Ali. Now, I can say with certainty that it is happening. And I know we are all looking forward to gradually seeing more local and regional content and stories be produced by Jordanians. For that to truly take root however, we need to have a holistic approach, making sure that all the elements are gathered for the right environment to enable our budding industry to grow: from learning how to tell stories via film, to protecting our valuable locations and spaces that are used in films. Rym Ali Managing Director and Commissioner at RFC
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