Second Edition

9 -15 April 2009

On 9 April, the Al Balad theatre, under the patronage of his Excellency Mayor of Amman Engineer Omar Al Ma'ani, will inaugurate the second edition of the Hakaya festival organized this year as part of the Amman Municipality Centennial Celebrations.  The festival is organized in Amman on an annual basis since 2008 in partnership with the Amman municipality, the Arab Education Forum, the Arab Theatre Training Centre, the Swedish Drama Institute and the French Cultural Centre in Amman.

The festival is part of an Arab initiative with a Mediterranean dimension- HAKAYA- whose mission is to reclaim the centrality of storytelling in learning, art and life. Within this same momentum organizations like the Tamer Institution for Community Education in Palestine will organize its annual reading and storytelling week between April 1^st and April 7^th, and Al Jana in Lebanon will organize their Janana reading week between April 12^th and April 19^th.

The performances during the seven day event will be held at different cultural venues and governorates around the Kingdom.

In addition to storytelling, dance and theatre performances there will be two workshops, the first one facilitated by Denise Assad to encourage parents to connect with their children through storytelling, and the second one by Praline Gay-Para to develop storytelling skills amongst young budding storytellers from Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. The festival concludes in its last two days with film screenings from Jordan and Brazil, Fernando Meirelles's Cidade De Deus (City of God) and Sandra Madi's Perforated Memory..

A round table discussion that celebrates oral societies will bring together storytelling and theatre artists, educators, and researchers in the field. Ammani Stories is another activity that will bring together Jordanian architects in an innovative discussion on the stories behind the architectural structure of a city like Amman. There will also be a meeting about training in the performing arts in Palestine.

A book fair organized by Azkadunya will offer people an array of books about storytelling and biographies, as well as the opportunity to buy and sign the recent bilingual book If I were given the Choice (Arabic/English) by Dr. Faihaa AbdulHadi. Al Hadi's book chronicles the Israeli Onslaught on Jenin between 2002 and 2003.

A Pebble by the Sea, the chronicle of the first year in the life of HAKAYA project narrated by Munir Fasheh and others will be available for sale and signing, along with the matching film, on the opening day.

The vision of HAKAYA maintains that writing, reading, and literacy are tools that help develop the intrinsic world within a person’s mind and imagination. Writing, reading, and literacy constitute the fabric that weaves the social and cultural network between people. Through the Hakaya festival, writing, reading and literacy will not only be viewed as tools that connect the mind with the text but also tools that connect the mind with life itself.

The Hakaya Festival partners in 2009 are the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Royal Film Commission, Ruwwad Association, Gallery Adraj, and The Dukes' Diwan.     

Tel: 06 (5687557)

Fax: 06 (5687558)