Middle Eastern film production is experiencing a renaissance. There has been a substantial growth in films produced in the Middle East, improved film quality, and increased global distribution. Audiences for Middle Eastern films are growing, and on the film festival circuit a wide range of films have attracted the attention and interest of critics and the public alike.
Recent films that have received enthusiastic reception include Jordan’s Captain Abu Raed, Israel’s Ajami, The Band’s Visit, and Waltz with Bashir, and the films of Elias Suleiman, a Palestinian-Israeli whose films explore Palestinian history, identity and contemporary experience, and include most recently The Time That Remains. Other Middle Eastern films that attracted robust interest include Lebanon’s West Beirut in 1998 and more recently, in 2006, Caramel.
While Israel has had an active program of film festivals for several decades, including the Jerusalem and Haifa film festivals, and Egypt has had the Cairo International Film Festival for 34 years, newer Middle Eastern film festivals have begun to increase the dissemination of film, particularly independent and art house cinema, with a great deal of growth in the Gulf states. These include the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, the Eilat International Film Festival and DocAviv: The Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival.
Nevertheless, there is plenty of room for growth and, in particular, for the development of indigenous schools of cinema. Jordan’s new Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA), based in Aqaba, is a major new addition to the world of film production, increasing opportunities for the study of film.
Still in its nascent stages, it is a growing school that reflects a paradigm shift in the way in which many Middle Eastern filmmakers will now be trained. Rather than traveling to the United States or Europe to pursue their education many now have the opportunity to study locally and work in an immersive Middle Eastern environment.
RSICA is a collaborative endeavor founded jointly and supported by the Royal Film Commission of Jordan and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. As the dream of King Abdullah, it took on embryonic form in the mind of then Prince Abdullah in 1989 when he traveled in Jordan with Steven Spielberg who was filming Indiana Jones and with whom he developed a friendship. Abdullah recognized the importance of increasing local Middle Eastern production of television and cinema programs, and the lack of such initiatives due to an undeveloped film and media sector and minimal investment of resources in visual media.
Steven Spielberg joined in assisting Abdullah to bring his vision to life. Spielberg comments, “When his Majesty approached me on the subject of a Jordan-based, world-class film school serving every country in the Middle East, including Israel, I immediately saw the importance and significance of such a venture for the people and the future of the region. I knew as a trustee of USC and a member of the school’s Board of Councilors that the university had the exact expertise he needed for this incredible initiative.”
RSICA accepts students from Middle Eastern and North African countries. It officially opened in September 2008 on a temporary campus equipped with “state-of-the-art digital technology infrastructure for production, post, sound, and exhibition.” These include an HD screening room, shooting stage, HD editing room, film library, a computer lab and a specialized IT department. Facilities will be expanded in the future to include a 32,000 square meter complex with two sound stages to be built with the advice of 20 Century Fox and Dreamworks. Students are trained in directing, producing, cinematography, sound, editing and screenwriting, and specialize in at least two of these areas during their second year in the program.
The school has 21 students at present with a maximum class size of 50—half of whom will be Jordanian. The school teaches practice and theory, and much of the curriculum is based on that of University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. The first graduating class of 2010 has already gone on to the Sundance Director’s Workshop, Iowa International Writers Program and the Producers Guild of American International Internship Program in Los Angeles.
Inevitably the costs of operating such a facility are great. RSICA is actively fundraising and maintains need-blind admissions so that the most talented students are considered for acceptance to the program irrespective of their financial resources and ability to pay. Tuition is expensive at 18,000 Jordanian dinars per year, or roughly $25,000, but financial aid is available through school-based fellowships.
Samer Mouasher, vice-chair of RSICA and commissioner of the Royal Film Commission Jordan commented on the significance and transformative potential of RSICA. “The Middle East is a melting pot of cultural richness and diversity with storytelling traditions as old as time, yet contemporary cinematic stories from the region are in short supply. In establishing this institute, we will draw from a diverse and vast pool of cultures and experiences to offer a more complete idea and multifaceted perspective to the viewer and the world audience.”
At the graduation of this year’s RSICA class, Dr. James Hindman, RSICA dean, spoke passionately of the future of RSICA’s students as creative contributors to the world of cinema, “You are responsible to your audiences; give them the truth with as much craft and art as you can find in yourselves. Respect them, respect the region as you present it to the world. Speak truly from your heart. You came full of passion, excitement, full of feelings, ideas and energy. Now you have skills. So look out world, here comes the RSICA Class of 2010!”
Students’ responses to RSICA have been enthusiastic. Tamador Abu Laban comments, “I began classes with RSICA in September 2009. Every day I’m learning new things, over a broad range of subjects, from cinema studies and editing to production and directing. There’s so much work. I start my day at 9 and finish at 11 p.m., but it’s great because I am here to study and learn as much as I can. It’s been simply amazing.”
Kasem Kharsa, a graduating student in the class of 2010, reflects that while for many students at RSICA the desire to challenge stereotypes about Arabs is one of their main interests in film training, he has a different priority. “For me, it’s important to put ourselves on the screen, not necessarily for the world, but for our own sense of ourselves, especially for those problems that we don’t talk about.”
Other student testimonials indicate similar interest and enthusiasm, as well as gratitude for the opportunity to study at RSICA. “The RSICA professors left what they were doing to come to Aqaba, this little corner of the world, to help make our dreams come true. Because of their inspirational classes I can feel my dreams becoming bigger. I love this place.” Another student says, “The classes are forceful and intense. The passion of the faculty and even the staff is translated into the students’ work.”
Though still young and just beginning to grow, RSICA has already seeded the next generation of Middle Eastern film and visual media creators. It will undoubtedly continue to contribute substantially to the growth of film and media production in the Middle East. Its openness of spirit and expansive vision to individuals of all nationalities in the Middle East is a powerfully positive concrete statement at a time when the politics of the Middle East remain tense with intolerance, misunderstanding, and lack of communication and respect for diversity.
Aqaba is located beside three other countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. There could not be a better spot for such a far reaching and broad-minded endeavor. One student boldly sums up RSICA’s character and aims. “There is a place called RSICA, and it is a mélange of important things: my homeland, my identity and my classmates’ identity, along with the discipline and the craft of cinema. That mélange is for us to collectively create the future identity of Middle Eastern Cinema.”
Noam Schimmel - London-based researcher and human rights practitioner with extensive development experience in the field.
