Don’t miss Edward’s very enjoyable descriptive account of that Friday Market experience on 7iber.com.
It was exactly a year ago when I interviewed Amin and David Pritchard while they were in Amman raising the capital investment for Captain Abu Raed. You can read the full article here (click on Press&News, and check out the JO article, I can’t link directly). I really enjoyed that interview. It was hard not to feel the amount of determination and passion that was there for this project through which a committed team was setting out with the aim to put Jordan on the map of international cinematic production.
The story started when Pritchard presented Amin and Laith with the challenge of writing the type of script that Roberto Begnini or Charlie Chaplin would star in; a story that is about Jordan, but that is also universal… a story that has a powerful central character with internal strength.
Amin, whose father is a pilot, wrote this script about an airport janitor, Abu Raed, who befriends children in his poor neighborhood, allowing them to think he’s an actual pilot and telling them stories from all over the world. He gets closely involved in the lives of two children, and that’s where the complexity of the story arises, as well as his friendship with the young female pilot, Nour, played by Jordan Television presenter Rana Sultan.
Abu Raed’s character is played by Nadim Sawalha, who has been involved in a lot of big productions abroad (and who, by the way, is Nabil Sawalha’s brother).
I got to spend a couple of hours on the set of Captain Abu Raed today while they were shooting at the Citadel, and it was really great. You can see how much dedicated effort went into planning and preparation. It all felt very professional, with state-of-the-art equipment, and incredibly experienced people from different parts of the world coming together here to make this film.
Over the past summer, Amin and the team interviewed over 250 kids from orphanages and refugee camps to pick the ones who are right for the film. According to Amin, working with the kids has been one of his favorite things about this experience. And when you talk to the kids, they just seem so excited about this experience, and very fond of Nadim and Amin. Of course it was very natural to see Hussein (who plays one of the main kids’ characters; Murad) bored because he’s not in today’s shoot and tired of being interviewed.
We got some interesting interviews on video with key people on the set. You can see those and read some more in depth coverage soon on 7iber dot come, so keep an eye on it in the coming days 
I thought I’d share a couple of pictures until I get the chance to actually write all the stuff I really want to blog.
By the way, the building under construction to the left of the Mosque in the second photo is the new Children’s Hospital at the King Hussein Medical City.
Oh, and one more thing, if you haven’t already.. do check out Naseem’s live blogging from the WEF on 7iber and keep an eye for 7iber dot Com’s official launch on the 25th of May!
Journalists from five Arab countries are to launch a media watchdog group in reaction to what they call increased restrictions on press workers in the region, its founders said on Tuesday.Twenty reporters from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco and Libya will launch the Cairo-based “Free Media Workers Union” in June, an initiative supported by Egyptian-American sociologist and human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim.
The watchdog body aims to “chart and expose violations of freedom of expression… and contribute to the current efforts to abolish legislation that restricts freedom,” founder Yussef Abdel Latif, a journalist for the London-based paper Al-Moraqeb Al-Arabi, told reporters.
And speaking of the state of Arab Media, Marc Lynch (a.k.a Abu Aardvark) has an interesting article in the Lebanese Daily Star on the change we’ve witnessed in the past ten years and the challenges and obstacles still faces by Arab journalists. Check it out!
I was so apprehensive about going to an all-boy public school, and kept imagining the type of jungle I’d be walking into, the type of reactions I would get, the harassment, the comments, and the disruption of the workshop… I was wondering how I would be able to control them, to get them to take me seriously and listen. It’s hard enough with the teenage girls I’ve been working with, so just think what it would be with 16-year-old boys who rarely ever interact with young females.
I took a deep breath as I parked the car relatively away from the main gate and walked into the playground where some boys were playing football.
Look straight… be serious… if they throw sleazy comments ignore and walk ahead!
Why oh why are we taught to constantly ignore sleazy comments and keep our mouths shut?
I took a few steps before being greeted by someone who turned out to be the principle’s assistant. He took me to the principle’s office, and the INJAZ coordinating teacher joined. They immediately suggested that the teacher remains in the classroom with me throughout the three-hour workshop, to help me control the boys. I must admit that while a part of me would have liked to explore how I might have done it completely on my own, I still appreciated the suggestion a lot. He was like “you know how tenth grade boys can be sometimes.”
“Oh yes, I can imagine.”
I think one of the strengths of Injaz is the school teachers’ buy-in. That teacher introduced me, said I was a volunteer from a private sector company, emphasized to them the importance of volunteering, and then sat aside and only helped with a few administrative issues while I started the workshop. The boys were paying good attention, and all of them got quite engaged in the process once it started. The idea of the Master Class is dividing the students into groups that will be identified as companies, asking them to distribute roles based on what each one of them feels he can contribute best, letting them come up with a name, logo, and design for their company, and then asking them to develop a product; which in our case was an environment-friendly paper shopping bag. They had to design it, make an actual sample, price it, and market it by standing up and giving a presentation to the rest of the class.
It was great to see their interaction, their smart questions, the way they scrutinized each other with questions after each presentation. Of course they’d become very loud at certain points or they’d stop listening as they try to get their work done. I tried raising my voice as much as possible every time I wanted to get their attention, but I must admit I was very weak at that, which is where their teachers’ contribution made the difference
Reading their feedback forms later on was quite interesting. Of course I do acknowledge all the things that could’ve been better. I should’ve prepared an incentive prize, and I could’ve gotten an additional guest speaker to share a useful experience. Next time. Also, I wish there was a special hall or bigger and brighter room better equipped for the INJAZ classes at schools like there is at universities. Some place with round tables, walls where you can actually hang all the posters you’re supposed to display, and generally, someplace where the students are taken outside their every day, every class environment. I suppose that’s where sponsorship comes in, for one room to be created in every school to serve such activities.
One boy wrote a comment on his feedback form “don’t send a male teacher to boy schools, because women are more capable of influencing them.” Another boy had a comment “it would’ve been easier and better if the facilitator was a man”.
Personally, I think it’s a long way before deeply entrenched social attitudes start to change here, but if it’s going to start somewhere, then that would have to be schools (because it’s practically impossible to change how it is inside every family), don’t you think?
This whole thing brings different thoughts to my mind every time I stare out the window. The first thing that occurred to me when I saw these workers in action from such proximity is the lack of safety conditions provided to them. You see them bending over, hanging over poles, carrying huge steel bars and wood panes, with non of the yellow protective helmets you see in shiny construction advertisements, or some kind of gloves or I don’t know what kind of things that provide some degree of protection. I don’t want to jump into conclusions, but I wonder how fairly compensated these workers are in case of accidents and physical damage. Just a thought…
Another thought that pops into my head is construction methods here. During the documentary filmmaking workshop I attended in March, we watched a film that I absolutely loved, called Blue Vinyl; a deeply personal and amazing documentary in which award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand alongside co-director Daniel B Gold sets out to explore the potential risks of PVC, extensively used as siding for homes in suburb America. She wanted to convince her parents to take out the Blue Vinyl which they used to re-side their house, and yet it was a huge challenge to find a reasonable, environmentally-friendly, and cost-effective alternative.
That film made me look at houses and construction in Amman in a different light, with newfound appreciation for the material we use and how it is all put together. We were taught in school that cement (and phosphate) tops the tiny list of natural resources that Jordan can humbly claim, but I realized what that really meant, until I saw the film and the struggle to find some decent and safe building material.
Here are more photos (click to view large size). I won’t be having this view for long, and not just because of their rapid building speed… but that’s a story for another post 
A friend of my sister’s comes up to her at university and says “I’m confirming your name on the list to vote for my uncle in the elections.” – And he simply writes it down.
“Huh? No… um… wait… what?”
“Yeah my uncle is running for a parliamentary seat of Zarqa.”
“But I’m probably registered in Madaba anyway…”
“Not to worry, we’ll take your ID card and fix it for you. We started collecting them. We would also have transportation available from Amman to Zarqa and back on the Election Day. So, no excuses, I’m counting you in.”
“Um… no… wait… I have to check, I mean, perhaps someone from my family is running or something.”
…
That’s Jordanian political campaigning for you!!
Meanwhile, the ministry of Interior Affairs has announced that all Units of Passports and Civil Status will be receiving IDs to set their Election District starting April 15th and until May 14th.
{Sigh}
While we’re at it, Minister of Political Development Dr Mohammad Al-Oran calls his ministry “a mystery”, during a speech he gave – guess where – in his hometown!
Last year, MENA MEDIA’s selection committee of media specialists awarded grants to 10 independent producers from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the West Bank, and Yemen whose film subjects ranged from interfaith marriages to the abuse of performance-enhancing steroids to the search for an Arab hero.
Productions should run 30 minutes or less and support increasing public dialogue and awareness on current and locally-oriented issues, including topics that are underserved by current media production, such as youth, the role of women in society, oral history, entrepreneurship. Priority will be given to projects which include alliances on content with television stations, print, radio or Internet outlets to ensure the productions have the broadest distribution possible.
Daoud Kuttab of AmmanNet calls the grants program a gift to independent media practitioners. “In a region where governmental and semi-governmental groups dominate the national and regional television scene, these grants will help independent journalists and producers work in an environment free from these financial pressures.”
An independent panel made up of international Arab production specialists and representatives from theMENA MEDIA Advisory Council, AmmanNet, and IREX will assess the proposals. Applicants will be required to demonstrate cost-sharing of 20 percent or more. Applicants will be asked to include a distribution plan that enables the finished product to be shown on television channels and at festivals. Details and on line applications are available on www.ammannet.net/tv.
