Growing up in Jordan, the international film industry never felt far away to Zain Duraie .

There was a shared history, she says, tied to the country’s role as a location for iconic global productions— such as David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962), with the unforgettable meeting of Peter O’Toole’s Lawrence and Omar Sharif’s Sherif Ali at Al Jafr Desert Well, or how the ancient ruins of Petra stole the show in the final scenes of Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

In recent years, the rise of Arab cinema and the central role Jordan has played — as both a visually striking backdrop and a regional filmmaking hub — has only deepened that connection. For Duraie, it meant opportunity. She got her start working on shorts produced by acclaimed Palestinian

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