The Amman International Film Festival – Awal Film (AIFF), set to start on August 23, revealed its jurors for its second edition.

"The AIFF is the first international film festival in the Kingdom that puts emphasis on debut achievements in the film industry at the regional and international levels,” according to the AIFF organisers.

There is always "a distinct taste” to any first film. "It is personal, it is intimate and it is, indeed, special,” AIFF Director Nada Doumani recently told The Jordan Times.

The jury panel will select the winners of the Black Iris Award in three competitive categories: Best Arab Feature-Length Narrative, Best Arab Feature-Length Documentary and Best Arab Short, according to an AIFF statement sent to The Jordan Times on Sunday.

The jury panel for "Arab Feature-Length Narrative” consists of director, producer and scriptwriter, Samir, whose credits include "Forget Baghdad: Jews & Arabs —The Iraqi Connection”. In addition to Samir, is the writer and director, Csaba Bollók, who is best known for his film "Iszka’s Journey”, and Khaled Haddad, the producer of multiple TV and film productions.

The statement also said that the jury panel for Arab Feature-Length Documentary Film is comprised of documentary filmmaker Mai Masri whose first narrative "3000 Nights” (2015) was Jordan’s official submission for the "Best Foreign Language Film” category of the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.

Masri is joined by the French novelist, documentary filmmaker, and script doctor and consultant, Caroline Pochon, and the award-winning editor, Elias Chahine.

The Arab Short Film jury panel includes Jérôme Paillard, the executive director of the Marché du Film at Cannes, the industrial arm of the Cannes Film Festival. He is joined by actress and performance expert, Anaheed Fayyad, as well as the filmmaker and film professor, Fadi Haddad, whose début Jordanian film "When Monaliza Smiled” (2012) was screened in festivals around the world.

The second edition of AIFF will take place between August 23 and 31, 2021, and Amman Film Industry Days (AFID), the industry arm of AIFF, will run between August 24 and 30, 2021, according to the AIFF website. 

The winners of each section will be announced on August 31 and will receive cash prize awards as follows: $20,000 for Best Arab Feature Narrative, $15,000 for Best Arab Feature Documentary and $5,000 for Best Arab Short, the statement added.

The winners will additionally receive the Black Iris Trophy, which was designed by Jordanian artist Mohanna Durra to represent Jordan’s national flower and the AIFF’s symbol.