AMMAN - Filmmakers from across the world are cultivating the next generation of Arab screenwriters in the hills of Wadi Feynan this week in the Fifth Regional RAWI Middle East Screenwriters Lab.
Advisers from Brazil, the US, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan are working to guide young filmmakers from across the region in making their voices heard.
The established filmmakers are helping aspiring screenwriters develop their feature film scripts through five days of one-on-one sessions.
"This is our fifth year, and we are already seeing great signs of developing a new generation of Arab filmmakers," Royal Film Commission (RFC) Communications and Culture Manager Nada Doumani told The Jordan Times.
This year's lab, which began on Saturday, gathers eight international professional filmmakers with seven fellows from Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Algeria, according to the RFC.
The initiative is already paying off according to organisers, with a series of success stories from 32 participants over the last few years.
Najwa Najjar's film "Pomegranates and Myrrh", which was developed in the first RAWI Lab in 2005, was released late last year and is opening in Jordan this month after being screened in several international film festivals.
Cherien Dabis' "Amreeka" had its US release in September and will be screened in the region later this fall, while "Son of Babylon", a film project by 2006 RAWI Lab participant Mohamed Al Daradji, has been selected for the 2009 Narrative Feature Competition through the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi.
Hicham Ayouch, who took part in the 2007 RAWI Lab, was granted the Abu Dhabi Circle Award for his project "Sambo de Maazouz" last year.
Meanwhile, Chadi Zeneddine, who developed his script "Last of the Storytellers" in the 2007 RAWI Lab, is currently in the pre-production stages of his film, a Walt Disney Pictures production, according to the RFC.
By Taylor Luck
© Jordan Times 2009
