On March 14^th, the University launched, in cooperation with the Consulate General of Spain in Jerusalem, the Amal International Euroarab Film Festival at the Martyr Zafer Al-Masri Auditorium at the Old Campus. Many students from the different faculties attended the event.

The Film Festival includes seven documentary films made by producers from different countries whose events take place in various locations and countries around the world; these films address political, social and cultural themes. The films will be displayed at the University between March 14^th and 30^th.

The Festival featured its first film on Monday, March 14^th which was titled “Angles of Baghdad” directed by producer, Rashid Mashrawi, who holds both a Qatari and Iraqi nationality. In the 50-minute film Mashrawi tells the story of the 2008 Israeli attack on Gaza which he watched from afar as he was in Baghdad making a documentary film about Iraqi children who were forced to work to make their living. The film also described the chained and isolated childhood that lives in a world that is full of war and cruelty.

Another film is the “Toy” film which will be featured on Monday, March 21^st. The film was directed by producer Marwan Zain from Egypt and it depicts the story of a young girl and her divorced mother who play a game together which reveals the true relationship between the two. The film’s story is inspired by Alberto Moravia’s short story “Let us play a game”.

The second film is “Waiting for Snow” directed by the Moroccan producer Yaseen Al-Idrisi. The film tells the story of the poor 5-year old young boy, Ismael, who lives in the Atlas Mountains waiting for snow to fall, not to play with, but because snow means a possible income source for him and his family.

Another film is “Ragdoll” directed by Qatari producer, Sherine Ghaith. The film tells the story of Wala’ a girl who buries her doll to keep it away from others; she knew that her life is more important than her dreams. The film will be featured on Wednesday, March 23^rd.

The fourth film is “Saleh Azzaz” directed by Florencia Marano from Spain. The film tells the story of a man called Salah who was born and raised in Algeria; Salah lived as a shepherd until he was forced to join the army. This difficult situation led him to flee from his country as a political refugee, requesting asylum in Spain. Salah has now been living in Barcelona for six years as a social worker.

The fifth film titled “Above the Ground, Beneath the Sky”, which will be featured on Wednesday, March 23^rd, is directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont, a Danish, Egyptian producer. The film tells the story of a young boy called Mahmoud who loves the circus and dreams of performing in the National Egyptian Circus as an acrobat. He practices hard several days a week with his mentor Kamal, who juggles the young boy on his feet one and a half meters above the ground in dangerous and daring acrobatic acts.

“We are still together” film will be featured on Monday, March 28^th. The film is directed by the Jordanian producer, Bashar Hamdan; the 29-minute film tells the story of a Palestinian couple (Ismail Shammout and Tamam Al-Akhal from Jaffa) who formed a unique humanitarian and creative relationship. They had their first joint exhibition in 1954, five years before getting married in Cairo. For more than fifty years, they painted a series of works reflecting the depth of the hardship they had both gone through as they had been forced to leave Palestine after the 1948 war (Nakbah).

Amal Film Festival is an international Euroarab film festival which is organized by the Araguaney Foundation- Bridge of Cultures and was first launched in 2003. The Festival aims to approach the Arab social context and culture to the general public through the worldwide language of the cinema.