AMMAN (JT) - Her Majesty Queen Noor hosted the annual King Hussein Foundation (KHF) Media and Humanity Programme in partnership with the Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) in New York City last Thursday, during which she awarded the King Hussein Leadership Prize.
Her Majesty was joined by Tribeca Film Festival founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Craig Hatkoff and 300 guests at the Japan Society.
Launched in 2007, the KHF-TFF partnership promotes films and media projects that highlight shared values and aspirations across social, economic, political and cultural divides with special emphasis on the Middle East and Muslim world, according to a KHF statement released yesterday.
This year's programme featured a screening of "Budrus", the award-winning documentary film about a Palestinian community organiser who launches a nonviolent resistance movement to save his village from destruction by Israel's separation barrier.
Struggling side by side with Israeli activists and with women in the frontlines, the villagers of Budrus unleash an inspiring, yet little known, movement in the occupied Palestinian territories that is still gaining ground today, the statement said.
After premiering at the Cultural Bridge Gala screening at the Dubai International Film Festival in December where it was introduced by Queen Noor, "Budrus" went on to win Second Prize in the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in February. Directed by Julia Bacha and produced by Bacha, Ronit Avni and Rula Salameh, "Budrus" is the second feature documentary released by Just Vision, a nonprofit organisation that generates awareness and support for Palestinians and Israelis working for nonviolent solutions to the conflict.
The evening continued with a panel discussion of the relationship between media and conflict, moderated by CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour and featuring Avni, Bacha, and the Palestinian protagonist of the film, Ayed Morrar, along with MIT researcher Nicole Argo, according to the statement.
Immediately following, Queen Noor, chairperson of the KHF, awarded the 11th King Hussein Leadership Prize to Morrar, Bacha and Avni.
The prize is given annually to individuals, institutions or groups who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in their efforts to advocate for sustainable development, human rights, tolerance, equity and peace.
The leadership prize is one of several KHF programmes honouring the late King Hussein's lifelong dedication to peace and development.
© Jordan Times 2010
