Jordanian Documentary ‘Land of Concrete’ Wins at London Film Festival

Jordanian documentary “Land of Concrete,” directed by Asmahan Bkerat, has won an award at the 70th London Film Festival, where documentaries claimed two of the four main prizes.

The film marks Bkerat’s directorial debut. Its recognition was part of a surprising set of results that gave documentary filmmaking a prominent place among the festival’s winners.

The other documentary winner was “Imperium,” by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, which took the festival’s official competition prize.

Loznitsa’s film relies entirely on archival material about the former Soviet Union, without reconstructing the events it depicts.

The awards brought recognition to both a Jordanian filmmaker’s debut and an archive-based exploration of the Soviet past, with documentaries accounting for half of the festival’s main honours.