Jordani’s film industry will be front and center at this year’s Shanghai Film Festival, where it is seeking closer collaboration with China and other global partners while celebrating the first ever screening of two Jordanian films at the event.

With Asia now leading the global box office and Hollywood losing ground to local films from around the world, it looks like an opportune time for Jordan to boost its homegrown industry and branch out internationally.

Jordan’s Royal Film Commission (RFC) will be on hand to support Zaid Abu Hamdan’s gritty crime thriller “Boomah,” which world premieres in the Asian New Talent competition, and Zain Duraie’s family drama “Sink,” unspooling in the Asian Collection sidebar.

The Royal Film Commission, which is helping secure distribution deals for the two films in China, will also be joining the Belt and Road Film Alliance, which currently comprises 57 festivals and film agencies from 50 countries. The alliance offers “cinematic, cultural and industrial exchange among the members,” says Ahmad Al Khatib, the RFC’s communications and culture manager.

In addition to a dedicated booth at Shanghai’s International Film & TV Market, the RFC is organizing an event showcasing Jordan’s film sector to Chinese and international industry professionals at the festival.

Most crucial among its many activities, however, will be the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the China Film Administration in Beijing aimed at deepening cooperation and collaboration in film.

“That to us is of strategic importance because that will be the gateway to actually start working with the Chinese film industry,” Al Khatib explains. 

The Royal Film Commission has been building its relationship with the China film industry over the past two years. In 2024 it hosted a dedicated event in Amman organized by the Beijing Film Festival. During the visit, the RFC signed a cooperation agreement with the festival, connecting Jordanian filmmakers with key Chinese film sector stakeholders.

The growing exchange continued in 2025, when RFC managing director Mohannad Bakri and Al Khatib conducted an exploratory visit to China to further develop relationships with film and television industry representatives and identify opportunities for future cooperation.

Later that year, the RFC, in collaboration with the Chinese Cultural Center in Jordan, organized the Chinese Film Days, which brought a Chinese delegation to Jordan. The program included film screenings, industry meetings and opportunities for Chinese representatives to engage directly with Jordanian filmmakers and explore the local industry ecosystem.

“Building on these exchanges, 2026 marks the next stage of the relationship, with Jordan being invited to participate in the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Belt & Road Film Week,” says Tala Zumot, the RFC’s marketing and outreach specialist. “During the visit to China, the RFC will also sign an MOU in Beijing, reflecting the continued development of the relationship between both sides.”

“On a strategic level, we wanted to invite the Chinese film industry to consider Jordan as a filming hub,” Al Khatib adds.

Landing Chinese distribution deals for the two Jordanian films is a primary objective and “Boomah” in particular is a perfect example of the kind of film that could entice international audiences, Al Khatib points out.  

Set in a marginalized community plagued by crime and violence, the film stars Rakeen Saad as a knife-wielding female gang member who becomes embroiled in a power struggle between street thugs and religious extremists while battling the trauma of her own past.

“Boomah” reveals a part of Jordan that has not been seen much in film, Al Khatib adds.

For the film’s producers, the Shanghai premiere is of particular significance.

“The selection is incredibly important for us,” says producer Gianluca Chakra, founder and CEO of Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment. “Shanghai may not always receive the same attention in our part of the world as Cannes, Venice or Berlin, but 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.”

Chakra, who produced “Boomah” via Front Row Productions along with Ahmad Abu Koush’s Amman-based Bounce Productions, adds: “For us, Shanghai represents far more than a festival selection. It is 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.”

“Sink,” which premiered in Toronto last year, similarly tackles a subject rarely discussed in the Arab world: mental illness. The film follows a desperate mother struggling with her teenage son’s psychotic disorder.

Producer Alaa Alasad of Amman-based Tabi360 is likewise eager to see the film’s reception in China and throughout Asia.

“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,” Alasad says. “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. The fact that there are two Jordanian films in Shanghai this year says a lot about our reach.”

Another main objective for the Royal Film Commission is to attract Chinese productions to Jordan and also to see Jordanian-Chinese co-productions in the future.  

“For us, a co-production is a story that involves both countries and both cultures,” says Al Khatib. “That’s what we hope to do at some point, showcase an intercultural kind of story.”

The idea is illustrated in the Royal Film Commission’s Shanghai campaign artwork depicting the famed site of Petra and the Great Wall of China, taglined “Wonder to Wonder.”  

“Of course, the historical ties between Jordan and China is very much related to the Silk Road,” Al Khatib adds. Indeed, the ancient city of Petra – made famous in Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” – was for centuries a major juncture of ancient caravan trade through the region.

Speaking last year at the Chinese film fest in Amman, Bakri also underscored Jordan and China’s cultural ties that stretched back thousands of years, exemplified by the Silk Road that connected Petra and the ancient Chinese city of Dunhuang, likewise a major hub of commerce on the famed trade route.

Jordan aims to continue this cultural legacy through broader cultural and production cooperation, particularly as China today represents the world’s largest film market, according to the RFC.

As a location, Jordan’s extraordinary landscapes have attracted countless international productions over the years, from David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” and Sam Wanamaker’s “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” to Brian De Palma’s “Redacted,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” films and Annemarie Jacir’s “Palestine 36.”

Last year Jordan increased its cash rebate program to 45% of local spend and introduced additional tax exemptions, making location shoots for foreign productions particularly attractive.

In addition, 2023 saw the opening of the country’s first major state-of-the-art studio complex in Amman: Olivewood Film Studios offers the necessary infrastructure to service all international filmmaking needs while providing a prime hub for the local industry.  

The studio is likewise looking east for growing opportunities.

“Olivewood’s international outreach is not limited to Western markets,” explains Jumana Sharbin, general manager of Olivewood Film Studios. “While we continue to engage with Europe and the U.S., we are placing strong emphasis on Asia and India as key growth markets.”

Earlier this year, Prashanth Neel’s upcoming Indian action saga “Dragon” filmed in the country, with key scenes shot in the red sandscapes and towering mountains of Wadi Rum, also known as the Valley of the Moon, as well as in the port city of Aqaba.  

While a number of other international productions were scheduled to shoot in Jordan this year, the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran has led to project cancellations.

Al Khatib expects queries and new productions to resume when the fighting ends, but notes that the situation remains complicated.