Jordanian Cinema Is Resonating Far Beyond its Borders

Characterized by distinct voices and authentic stories with increasing universal appeal, Jordanian cinema is reaching new global markets and impressing ever more international audiences.

The Shanghai Film Festival’s selection this year of two Jordanian films, Zaid Abu Hamdan’s crime thriller “Boomah” and Zain Duraie’s family drama “Sink,” illustrates the growing international interest in Jordanian works while at the same time offering filmmakers a springboard into increasingly important Asian markets.

World premiering in Shanghai’s Asian New Talent competition, “Boomah” is set in a marginalized community plagued by crime and violence. Rakeen Saad stars as a knife-wielding female gang member who becomes embroiled in a power struggle between rival groups while battling the trauma of her own past.

The film is produced by Front Row Productions in Dubai and Ahmad Abu Koush’s Amman-based Bounce Productions.

“Sink,” which premiered in Toronto last year, follows a desperate mother struggling with her teenage son’s mental illness, a subject rarely discussed in the Arab world. Produced by Amman-based Tabi360, “Sink” unspools in the non-competitive Asian Collection sidebar.

“Boomah” producer Gianluca Chakra of Front Row Productions says the film’s selection “is incredibly important for us.” He sees the Shanghai premiere as “an opportunity to introduce the film to new audiences, open doors across China and the wider Asian market and contribute, however modestly, to a growing cultural dialogue between two regions that may have more in common than many people realize.”

Alaa Alasad, head of Tabi360, is likewise eager to engage Asian audiences: “The film has been successful on the international festival circuit, and it is amazing to see it travel from North America to Europe and now Asia. We are hoping to secure distribution deals in China.

“While we have always felt that China is a market that can be difficult to penetrate, I am confident there is room for Jordanian films there,” Alasad adds. “The fact that there are two Jordanian films in Shanghai this year says a lot about our reach.”

Chakra notes that while Shanghai “may not always receive the same attention in our part of the world as Cannes, Venice or Berlin, it remains one of Asia’s most significant film festivals and an important gateway into a region that is home to some of the world’s largest and fastest-growing audiences.”

And those audiences appear to be increasingly tuning in to West Asian and North African cinema.

“What makes this year’s edition particularly meaningful is the strong presence of Arab cinema throughout the festival,” Chakra says. “For Arab filmmakers, that matters. It signals a growing curiosity about stories coming from our region and a willingness from Asian audiences and industry professionals to engage with them.”

In addition to “Boomah,” Moroccan filmmaker Yassine El Idrissi’s “Halima” is competing in the Golden Goblet Main Competition, while the festival is marking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt through a dedicated Egyptian Film Week celebrating both the legacy of Youssef Chahine and contemporary Egyptian cinema.

Further reflecting the growing engagement between Arab and Asian cinema at an institutional level is the presence of renowned Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha on the Golden Goblet jury, Chakra notes.

“We’ve already seen examples of Arab films finding genuine resonance in Asia. Nadine Labaki’s ‘Capernaum’ remains the most striking example,” he adds. “Despite being deeply rooted in Lebanon, it became a remarkable success in China and demonstrated that stories from our region can connect with audiences far beyond the markets Arab cinema has traditionally looked toward.”

The increasingly international success of Jordanian films and co-productions was evident last year with “All That’s Left of You,” Cherien Dabis’s sprawling epic chronicling the lives of a Palestinian family living under Israeli occupation across three generations. The film premiered in Sundance and went on to win major festival awards, including prizes in Sydney, Malaysia, Shanghai, Jeddah, Seville, Thessaloniki, San Francisco and the Hamptons. “All That’s Left of You” also made the short list as Jordan’s official entry for the international feature Oscar.

“Jordan has also become an important home for Palestinian storytelling,” Charka points out. “Projects such as ‘Farha,’ ‘All That’s Left of You’ and ‘Palestine 36’ reflect the deep historical and human connections between the two communities. Many Jordanian families trace their roots to Palestine following waves of displacement over the decades, which gives filmmakers and audiences a unique understanding of the histories, emotions and experiences explored in these stories.”

“That connection brings a level of authenticity and emotional truth that is difficult to replicate elsewhere and has helped position Jordan as an important creative home for stories from across the Levant,” Chakra notes.

“What I find most interesting, however, is the distinct voice that has emerged from Jordanian cinema in recent years,” he adds. “Films such as ‘Theeb,’ ‘Inshallah A Boy’ and ‘The Alleys’ have demonstrated that Jordanian filmmakers are capable of telling stories that are deeply rooted in local realities while resonating far beyond their borders.”

“Boomah” is likewise “rooted in its local environment, yet it is told through a cinematic language that can travel. It embraces genre, strong characters and emotional storytelling while remaining connected to the social realities that inspired it,” Chakra explains.

Indeed, over the past two decades local Jordanian stories and characters have increasingly resonated on screens around the world, among them “Captain Abu Raed,” Amin Matalqa’s touching drama about an elderly airport janitor mistaken for an international pilot by the neighborhood kids, which won the world cinema audience award at Sundance in 2008, and “The Last Friday,” Yahya Al Abdallah’s 2011 story of a down-on-his-luck taxi driver that became the first Jordanian film to screen at the Berlin Film Festival.

More recently, Abu Hamdan’s award-winning 2021 Cairo Film Festival entry “Daughters of Abdulrahman” impressed with its story about estranged sisters and the impact of traditional social norms on the lives of women. Similarly, Cynthia Madanat Sharaiha’s “Saleem,” Jordan’s first feature-length animated film, about a young boy who is forced to leave everything behind only to embark on a life-changing adventure, unspooled at the Annecy Film Festival in 2023 and went on to win a slew of international awards.