The Royal Film Commission of Jordan and SAE International announce TheShorts’ film competition & festival will be launched simultaneously in Jordan and the UAE in early 2007.
TheShorts festival is being introduced as a result of a recently signed agreement between the Royal Film Commission, Jordan - under the Patronage of Prince Ali Ibn Hussain, SAE Institute - the world’s largest film making, 3D animation, multimedia and audio engineering educator and Al Quds College – Jordan’s leading community college .
This exciting competition & showcase, which will draw upon local & regional talent, is coming to the Middle East for the very first time and is expected to become a fixed annual event in both the UAE and Jordanian community & arts calendar.
The objective is to stimulate and grow interest & awareness in the art & science of film whilst encouraging direct Jordanian & UAE cooperation leading to the increased development of both countries film-making & TV production industries.
TheShorts is open to all with categories that will provide a rare opportunity to the young, amateur & semi-professional talent to showcase their creative & technical film related projects as well as to encourage self-expression and growth.
The festival will be supported by a series of renowned international and domestic sponsors and will offer a substantial range of prizes to winners of open genre categories in both Arabic and English. This world class event will create the venue and exciting environment to present & showcase regional creative work in the art of film, animation and other creative media.
Submissions of short films will be open to entrants in the animation, documentary, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, music videos, public service announcements, commercials and mobile phone film categories.
The introduction of the new and innovative mobile phone video category is very novel and will create a massive new interest through greater accessibility to short film making through this relatively new & revolutionary mobile phone technology.
TheShorts will be engaging, educational & entertaining to a large cross section of the domestic and regional audience with a compilation of the best submissions planned to be aired on the major television networks at the end of every month in the 3 months leading up to the final award night - currently scheduled for April 2007.
TheShorts will receive substantial support from SAE International, whose portfolio includes provision of creative and practical training in film making, animation, audio engineering, music production, digital video, graphics, multimedia, entertainment business and web design.
Founder of TheShorts Mr Romy Hawatt, who is also Senior Executive of SAE International, confirms that “our objective is to promote, empower and substantially link and associate the Middle East and it’s huge pool of talent into the international film community and industry at large. TheShorts is both unique and innovative and will provide a substantial annual contest and venue to inspire and showcase a multitude of film making talent & creative ideas that would have otherwise laid latent or gone unnoticed. Furthermore, it is our hope and expectation that TheShorts festival will excite, encourage and inspire domestic and regional audiences by the capabilities of their own people whilst empowering and inspiring young film makers to come forward with a sense of freedom for creative and artistic expression.
Importantly, TheShorts is a no-for-profit event and revenues will be ploughed back to support domestic film making projects & creative media education to the youth.
Mr Ibrahim Safadi, CEO of Al Quds College, the official licensee of SAE in Jordan, said: “TheShorts promises to be a world class event on the Jordanian calendar that will generate substantial interest in the ever-increasing Film Making and Animation fields. This competition will have a wide public reach and will generate a large interest in all age groups and genres’. Al Quds new Faculty of Art’s & Creative Technology is very proud to support and be associated with this project”.
TheShorts will create a rare opportunity for emerging and aspiring filmmakers to receive unprecedented public & industry exposure as well as productive and practical guidance from industry peers in the Arab & English film and TV arenas.
For more information on the festival visit www.theshorts.tv
Royal Film Commission:
The RFC was established to develop and promote an internationally competitive Jordanian audio-visual industry through the advancement of human, technical and financial capacity in addition to providing comprehensive production support services to local, regional and international productions.
Please visit the RFC website at www.film.jo
SAE International
SAE Institute has a 30 year history of providing education and creative & practical training in film making, animation, audio engineering, TV & music production, digital video, graphics, multimedia, entertainment business and web design and has already added Dubai, Kuwait and Amman ( opening in March 2007 ) to it’s list of 49 international campuses.
Please visit the SAE website at www.sae.edu
Al Quds College for Education, Training & Consultancy:
Al Quds College, located in Amman was founded in 1980 to provide a number of courses and diploma programs accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Al Balqa' Applied University. Today it has grown to become a center of educational opportunity and one of the leading community colleges in Jordan providing a wide range of local and international accredited certificates. Al Quds founded its training center in 1999 to meet the huge demand and accelerating rate of change in the world of training. The College and the training center consist of a highly qualified team of instructors and trainers, moreover, partnerships have been established with several private and governmental organizations, NGOs and international development agencies to ensure the most up-to-date educational techniques and to facilitate the transition of ideas and experiences between students and trainers on the one hand, and professionals in various fields on the other.
