Art & Culture

The 2026 Amman International Film Festival Is Bringing Some of Cinema’s Biggest Voices to Jordan

BYMeriem Belhiba

July 21, 2026

For one week every summer, Amman becomes the kind of city where your favourite actor might spend the evening discussing character-building instead of walking a red carpet, where filmmakers swap festival buzz for honest conversations, and where audiences get closer to cinema than a screening alone can offer.

True to its founding vision, the Amman International Film Festival (AIFF) remains the only festival in the region dedicated exclusively to debut works. But its Public Conversations have become just as much of a draw, turning the Jordanian capital into a gathering place for the artists shaping Arab and international cinema.

This year’s programme brings together four remarkable voices—Hend Sabry, Khalid Abdalla, Dora Bouchoucha, and Brillante Mendoza—for a series of conversations that span everything from acting and activism to producing independent cinema and directing award-winning films. Here’s what to expect.

Hend Sabry on Building a Career Across Arab Cinema

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Few actors have shaped contemporary Arab cinema quite like Hend Sabry. Beginning her career as a teenager in The Silences of the Palace, the Tunisian actress has spent more than three decades moving between auteur filmmaking, commercial cinema, and television, building a body of work that includes The Yacoubian Building, Asmaa, Finding Ola and, more recently, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated Four Daughters.

At AIFF, Sabry will revisit that journey in a conversation titled Beyond the Role, Journey Across Arab Cinema, discussing everything from choosing scripts and developing characters to navigating fame while continuing to reinvent herself across generations of Arab filmmaking.

Moderated by festival programmer Fadi G. Haddad, the session promises to look beyond individual performances to the broader evolution of Arab cinema itself.

Khalid Abdalla on Art, Activism and Responsibility

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Can an artist remain politically engaged without allowing politics to define the work? That question sits at the centre of Khalid Abdalla’s conversation, Artivism: The Artist as a Driver of Change.

Best known internationally for projects including The Kite Runner, The Crown and United 93, the Egyptian-British actor has also become one of the most visible cultural voices speaking on questions of identity, freedom and Palestine.

Rather than treating activism and acting as separate pursuits, the discussion explores how artists navigate public responsibility without reducing art to political messaging—an increasingly relevant conversation at a time when actors are expected to occupy both cultural and civic roles.

Dora Bouchoucha on Producing Arab Cinema

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Long before many Arab films reached Cannes, Venice or Berlin, Dora Bouchoucha was helping make them possible. One of Tunisia’s most influential producers, Bouchoucha has spent decades supporting filmmakers across the region while playing a defining role in initiatives such as Sud Écriture and the Carthage Film Festival.

Her conversation, First and Latest, traces that journey from her earliest productions to her newest projects while opening a wider discussion on the realities of film financing, international co-productions and the increasingly complex ecosystem behind independent filmmaking. For emerging producers and filmmakers, it may prove one of the festival’s most practical conversations.

Brillante Mendoza on Finding Humanity in Ordinary Lives

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Few filmmakers have documented everyday life with the consistency of Brillante Mendoza. Following a screening of his Cannes-winning film Ma’ Rosa, the Filipino director will join audiences to discuss a filmmaking philosophy rooted in ordinary people and extraordinary circumstances.

Across a career spanning more than two decades, Mendoza has become known for an unflinching realism that never loses sight of human dignity. His conversation will explore directing actors, building authentic performances and developing a cinematic language that has earned recognition at the world’s leading festivals.

Adding these to your festival schedule? Reserve your seats through the official AIFF booking platform: https://booking.aiff.jo/events

The 2026 Amman International Film Festival Is Bringing Some of Cinema’s Biggest Voices to Jordan

Hend Sabry on Building a Career Across Arab Cinema

Khalid Abdalla on Art, Activism and Responsibility

Dora Bouchoucha on Producing Arab Cinema

Brillante Mendoza on Finding Humanity in Ordinary Lives

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The 2026 Amman International Film Festival Is Bringing Some of Cinema’s Biggest Voices to Jordan

Hend Sabry on Building a Career Across Arab Cinema

Khalid Abdalla on Art, Activism and Responsibility

Dora Bouchoucha on Producing Arab Cinema

Brillante Mendoza on Finding Humanity in Ordinary Lives

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