Jordan kicked off its fifth short film festival on Sunday, with aims to raise public's interest to film art and shore up independent filmmaking, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Monday.
As part of the five-day festival, prizes worth 1,000 U.S. dollars will be awarded to the best Arab and international short films, with the awards to be decided by a jury of Jordanian artists including cartoonist Emad Hajjaj and veteran actor Mohammad Katari.
More than 40 films from across the region, Sweden, Iran, France, the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and the U.S., will be screened and compete for the awards.
The annual festival will serves as a platform not only for Jordanian filmmakers, but also artists from across the region, said Hazim Bitar, coordinator of the festival.
Short film mainly refers to contemporary non-commercial motion picture that is substantially shorter than the average commercial feature film. It often focuses on difficult topics which longer, more commercial films usually avoid.