The 13th Edition of Karma HRFF Jordan -2022

For the thirteenth consecutive year, Karama Human Rights Film Festival was held under the theme “Transformation, Deviation, Mutation” from the 15th to 21st December 2022 at the Royal Cultural Center, Amman.

This edition tackled the shifting post-pandemic social, economic and political difficulties, challenges and transformations faced by individuals and societies, through the medium of cinema and various other disciplines of art.  For the thirteenth consecutive year, the festival created a welcoming space for audiences and artists to share, cultivate, and develop their reflections on the evolution and transformations of contemporary Human Rights.

Across seven days, 65 films of different genres were screening, from over 40 countries worldwide. Our selection this year included 20 documentary films, 6 fiction feature films, 19 short fiction films, 11 animation films, as well as 7 Yemeni films presented in partnership with Karama Yemen. furthermore, as part of the U-Turn Program in resonance with the Empty Chair Tribute, 2 films from Jean-Luc Godard were screened in the festival.

In addition to visitors and audiences this year, Karama hosted over 35 guests. All professionals of the film industry engaged towards Human Rights, the guests included 13 members of the ANHAR network (Arab Network for Human Rights Film Festivals), 18 participating film directors & producers, one main film protagonist and 6 jury members – including filmmakers, university professors, festival directors, and actors.

This year, screenings were organized in 6 different locations alongside the main venue in Amman. Thanks to the cooperation of our trusted partners, films were screened in Al-Ahliyyah University, Garage Space Irbid, Rosary School, Petra University, and the Rainbow Theater in midtown Amman.

In addition to the film screenings, our annual parallel activities were also organized during the festival and presented to Karama audiences, in concert with our baseline screenings;

• Youth Forum entitled “Dialogues on the New Arts; Transformation – Deviation Mutation”. This is part of Ma3mal 612’s Identity and the City Project.
• Musikarama, an alternative music concert entitled “Electro-Ordon”. This is part of Ma3mal 612’s Identity and the City Project.
• Conscience of Art – Exhibition entitled “The Algorithmic Reflection”,
• Academic Symposium entitled “Climate Change & Societal Turbulence”,
• The Must Meet Meeting – a round table discussion around the theme “Transformations in Production and Screening: Independent Cinema Deviating Towards Novel Streaming Platforms”,
• Empty Chair Tribute dedicated to the iconic New Wave film director Jean-Luc Godard,
• The ANHAR Annual Meeting in presence of 13 regional members and 2 special guests,
• International Human Rights Day Celebration – celebrating the 75^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The festival has maintained its tradition of holding live discussion sessions following film screenings, and more than 15 post-screening Q&A sessions were facilitated between Karama audience and the film teams this year. Some of the sessions were special with the presence of distinguished guests, such as the discussion of the movie “Young Plato” in the presence of H.E the Minister of Culture and the film’s main protagonist Kevin Mcarvey, and “The Blue Inmates” in presence of the film director Zeina Daccache and the Head of the Institute for Training and Development of Correctional and Rehabilitation Centers, “One Second Forever”, in presence of three official members of the Jordanian Traffic Institute and the Traffic Investigation Division.