RFC to screen films on Great Arab Revolt period

AMMAN — The Royal Film Commission (RFC) is showing three films on the Great Arab Revolt era from Monday to Wednesday to mark the Revolt's centennial.

On Monday, the RFC will be screening the "Great Arab Revolt", while "The Baghdad Railway" (Die Bagdad-Bahn) will be shown on Tuesday and "Theeb" will cap off the screenings on Wednesday. 

All films will be shown at the RFC headquarters in Jabal Amman at 8pm. Admission is free.

The "Great Arab Revolt" is a 40-minute documentary tackling "important aspects of the Great Arab Revolt and World War I", according to the RFC. 

The Arabic-language film, a 2016-National Library Department production, incorporates interviews with historians and researchers, as well as early 20th-century "rare archive material". 

Screenwriter Aseel Mansour will be attending the screening, the RFC said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

On Tuesday, "Die Bagdad-Bahn", a 2007 film by German director Roland May, will explore the journey of German engineers who set out on a "daring enterprise", planning and building a railroad to link major European and
West-Asian cities

From Berlin to Baghdad, across Turkey, Syria and Jordan, the project's implementation, which spanned the period from 1903-1940, coincided with key events that shaped the future of the region — World War I, the Great Arab Revolt, and leading up to World War II. 

The English version of the two-part German production will be screened, according to the RFC.

The film week concludes with the Academy Award-nominated "Theeb" on Wednesday. 

Set in the Arabian Desert, the coming-of-age period drama tells the story of Theeb and his brother, two bedouin boys who embark on a journey into the unknown when they leave their tribe behind.

Events take place in 1916, the dawn of the Great Arab Revolt. 

The 100-minute film, directed and co-written by Naji Abu Nowar, has been screened around the world, winning over 20 awards, including Best Director at the Venice Film Festival.

In February, the Jordanian-British Abu Nowar and producer Robert Lloyd won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer.