Jordanian Short Film Tala'vision Nabs Best Narrative Film at Student Academy Awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars) announced that Jordanian short film Tala’vision, by Murad Abu Eisheh, of the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, won Best Narrative Film at Student Academy Awards, after competing with six other films. Now being the first Arab film to win such an award, Tala’vision is eligible to compete in the 94th Academy Awards, which will be held during next March.

Tala’vision is screening at Portland Film Festival till November, 8. Marking the first time for a medium-length film to win two awards at Max Ophuls Film Festival in Germany, Tala'vision nabbed jury and audience awards during the 42nd Max Ophuls Film Festival. The film landed its world premiere at the same festival. Moreover, it received 1st Prize for a Live Action Short Film at Flicker's Rhode Island International Film Festival and First Steps Award and the Michael Ballhaus Prize for Best Camera Work. The film was granted by The Jordan Film Fund in its fourth cycle (2019). Also, it was selected by the jury of Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival to take part within Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market.

 The eight-year-old Tala lives within a war-torn reality. She finds her solace and salvation in a banned television, which turns later to a matter of life and death. Directed by Murad Abu Eisheh, Tala'vision is a joint production between Jordan and Germany. It stars Ziad Bakri, Aesha Balasem, and Khalid Al Tarifi, is shot by Philip Henze and produced by Jude Kawwa. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution across the Arab world.

Murad Abu Eisheh was born in 1992 in Amman – Jordan. In 2014, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Communication Design with a focus on Film Making from the German Jordanian University, Amman. He directed several shorts and commercials for the Royal High Curt Jordan, before beginning his studies in directing at the well-known Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. During his studies, he approached politics in the Arab World from a wider perspective, using his cinematic approach to point out political and humanitarian grievances in the Arab world. His films have so far been represented at the most prestigious youth film festivals in Germany. Besides his studies, he is the coordinator of Pan African Audiovisual Development Program “Follow The Nile” of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, where he has the opportunity to give young African filmmakers the support they need to create their vision and to expand his own horizons as a world citizen and filmmaker.