Film festival brings French teen angst to Jordanian audiences

AMMAN – Under the cover of Amman’s night sky, an audience of men and women, young and old, Jordanians and foreigners were transported to a small, coastal French town called Boulogne-sur-Mer. 

On the screen in front of them played the award-winning French documentary “Chante ton bac d’abord” (We did it on a song), written and produced by David Andre in 2014. The movie was chosen for the opening night of the 2016 European Film Festival, which runs until Monday. 

Speaking before the screening, David Bertolotti, the French ambassador to Jordan, said the movie was chosen because “it speaks about an important period in life”. 

“Basically, it’s one of those initiation movies of the shift from school to adult life.”

The documentary follows the journey of a group of friends, the year before they sit for their baccalaureate exams. Facing an uncertain future in a town hit hard by the recent economic crises, the teenagers experience love, heartbreak, setbacks and successes together. 

Andre uses their lives to explore topics such as mental health, parenting and societal attitudes towards work, while simultaneously weaving entertainment in the form of song into the film. 

“I think it is interesting for Jordanian people to see what’s in the mind of the French people,” said Stephane Delaporte, the president of the European Union National Institutes for Culture in Jordan. 

“You can understand how different people think through that field because they talk a lot about their preoccupations, what are the problems in their lives, and the joy also in a very critical moment of their lives.”

The film has been translated with Arabic subtitles for future showings around Amman, including at universities in Irbid, Ajloun, Zarqa and Maan.

Delaporte said one of the reasons for choosing this film was that it would reach the target audience of young Jordanians, who could hopefully relate to the film. 

At least one young Jordanian did. Eman Abu Sitta, who came to see the screening with her friends, said, “I think movies are a good way to show the culture that you need to share. You can hear it; you can see it; you can even feel it. If it’s a good movie, it will reach you.”

The film festival continues with a screening of the Dutch film “History’s Future” by Fiona Tan and Poland’s “Bogowie” by Lukasz Palkowski. Saturday will feature the Czech film “Fair Play” by Andrea Sedlackova and the German film “The Salt of the Earth” by Wim Wenders.