Queen Rania visits Royal Film Commission

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Tuesday visited the Royal Film Commission (RFC) in Amman, where she met representatives from the commission, RFC board members, and Jordanian film and television artists. 

During the visit, Her Majesty was briefed by RFC board member HRH Princess Rym Ali about its activities, which include training budding filmmakers in Jordan, facilitating foreign and local film production in the Kingdom, and promoting the culture of cinema by organising nationwide screenings for people from various age groups and backgrounds with different interests. 

The Queen congratulated the RFC and Jordanian filmmakers on their achievements, particularly in the last few years, which include “Theeb” and “A 7-Hour Difference”, according to a statement from her office.

“You should be proud of what you have achieved. Jordan is certainly proud of you,” Her Majesty told them. 

Queen Rania highlighted the positive impact of the cinema and television industry on the local economy and the need to support this very influential sector, citing the reputation of Jordanian bedouin drama and its footprint on the history of Arab drama.

Princess Rym thanked Her Majesty for supporting this sector, particularly for its important socio-cultural and economic role. 

“Since Prince Ali created the RFC, with the support and encouragement of His Majesty King Abdullah, huge efforts were deployed, offering opportunities to young, talented Jordanian women and men to express themselves creatively in this, the seventh art, and audio-visual production generally speaking.” 

Princess Rym added that in addition to supporting local filmmakers, the RFC also managed to attract several foreign productions, from the region and the world at large, creating new jobs and bringing in revenues to the Kingdom.

RFC General Manager George David indicated that some 500 young Jordanians are trained each year on the art of filmmaking. 

He underlined that the filmmaking industry is creating around 8,000 jobs per year, while foreign productions inject an average of JD11 million into the local economy. 

“The RFC,” David said, “is living up to its commitment not only by attracting foreign productions with an average of 10 per year, but also by supporting directly or indirectly Jordanian film and TV productions and by fostering film culture in Jordan.”    

During the discussions, the challenges facing the industry were addressed, including limited official support for this sector and the high cost of cinema tickets for the average Jordanian. 

The talks also tackled obstacles facing the promotion and financial support of Jordanian productions on a pan-Arab level.

Founded in 2003 with the aim of building a pioneering, modern Jordanian film industry, the RFC is an administratively and financially independent government body governed by a board of commissioners headed by HRH Prince Ali.

Since 2008, more than 60 feature, documentary and international films were produced in Jordan. 

For a more comprehensive list of productions filmed in Jordan, visit http://www.film.jo/ar/node/9183