Updated: April 30, 2009
INTRODUCING THE COOPERATIVE
Founded in 2002 by Hazim Bitar as a cine club, the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative promotes independent Jordanian and Palestinian Diaspora filmmaking through training, experimentation, and networking. The Cooperative seeks to empower student filmmakers to produce films using very nominal resources and with the help of digital filmmaking tools.
Since 2003, Cooperative graduates completed over 50 short films Cooperative graduates boast the highest film festival selection rates in the history of Jordanian cinema. Many of those films have been selected to Academy-Certified film festivals such as the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, France; Huesca International Film Festival, Spain; Tampere International Short Film Festival, Finland; Seagate-Foyle International Film Festival, Northern Ireland; Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland; and a host of other regional film festivals such as the Middle East International Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival, UAE; Ismailia Film Festival, Egypt; Tangier Film Festival, Morocco; Carthage Film Festival, Tunisia; Dubai Film Festival, UAE.
In 2007 the Cooperative and the Spanish Embassy in Jordan worked together to launch Hope Films, a project that organises workshops for disadvantaged Jordanian communities
The instructors are industry professionals with a proven track record in the field of filmmaking. Guest instructors are invited to shed light on specialized topics. Using commercially available multimedia editing software and video production hardware, the students learn how to produce films within limited budgets.
To sustain the activity of workshop graduates, the Cooperative, in partnership with local NGOs, establishes small production units to allow students to continue their filmmaking activities after workshop completion.
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