Karama (Human Rights Film Festival)

Karama (Human Rights Film Festival) is a six-day film festival that has been held in Amman, Jordan since 2010. The main goal of this festival is to develop and maintain a cross-cultural platform for artists, filmmakers and the wider general public to engage in issues relating to Human Rights, and in particular the notion of the dignity of human beings, their sense of worth, belonging and spirit of common welfare among their communities. The festival also aims to advocate for Human Rights through film screenings, invite debate, encourage critical thinking and civic engagement, and open democratic dialogue about Human Rights issues among the various international, regional, and local institutions and organizations and the wider public. Karama HRFF is managed and organized by Ma3mal 612 Think Factory, while The Royal Cultural Center in Amman hosts its main screenings.

The Karama network supports six-member film festivals by providing unique film packages and diverse capacity-building programs for its teams through the Arab film network ANHAR which is a networking arm that fortifies bridges between regional festivals.

1. Create a global partnership that aims to promote dialogue, engage in debate, build capacity, and launch high-impact programs to address stressing topics concerning Human Rights issues in the Middle East, the North African region, and beyond, through films, visual arts, music, seminars, forums, and art exhibitions.

2. Develop and maintain a cross-cultural platform for artists, filmmakers, and the wider public to engage in issues relating to Human Rights, in particular the notion of the dignity of human beings, their sense of worth, belonging, and spirit of common welfare among their local and national communities, through a long-term partnership with the European donor community, the Karama HRFF friends, partners from Europe, and the world.

3. Advocate for Human Rights, invite debate, encourage critical thinking and civic engagement, and open democratic dialogue about Human Rights issues in Jordan and the region.

4. Promote the role of arts in general and films in specific by documenting Human Rights violations, advocating for Human rights values, and influencing public opinions and policy reform.
5. Expand the network of Human Rights activists and practitioners in Jordan, the region, and the world.

6. Reconnect with the essence of human nature, sympathy, love, tolerance, peace, and open up a dialogue about accepting difference, in line with topics such as extremism, violence, racism, gender disparity, hate discourse, and discrimination.

7. Create a hub for dialogue among youth and local communities around Human Rights issues and peace while educating participants about their rights through interactive means such as film screenings and training programs.

●       More than 600 film screenings from 66 countries, in the genres of documentary, feature fiction, short fiction, and animation.

●       Annually, over 8000 viewers from different fields come to the festival, attend, and participate in its wide range of activities.

●       The creation of sub-initiatives: ANHAR project, Feather Award program, Karama Atelier, Musikarama, Intellectual program, and Karama outreach program.

●       Presented more than 15 large-scale concerts of artists from the region and the world in its main venue and local music clubs. All festival screenings and activities were free of charge: driven by its core belief: Art for all.

●       Presented  11 seminars, 11 musical concerts, 10 art exhibitions and wall screenings on old buildings in Jabal Amman and Jabal Al-Weibdeh (Cinema of the neighborhood), in addition to hosting 6 youth forums and 2 must meet meetings. Karama HRFF has established itself as a truly global platform from the Middle East that advocates for Human Rights, invites debate, encourages critical thinking and civic engagement, and opens democratic dialogue about Human Rights issues among the various international, regional and local institutions and organizations and the wider public.

●       The organization operates from its hub in Amman, Jordan, and works on establishing active chapters in key cultural centers in the region such as Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia with reach and participation from more than 60 countries.