Two Jordanian Filmmakers Stepping Up After Academy Award Nod

Raghad Albakheet and Danial Salman are moving on up. The Jordanian director-producer team made waves with their short "A Subconscious Dive," which landed a Student Academy Award semifinal nomination in the Alternative/Experimental category—a historic moment for Jordanian cinema.

Now they're taking the next step. Both are developing their own feature-length projects, branching out from the creative partnership that got them here. It's the natural move: prove yourself on a smaller scale, build your reputation, then go bigger.

What's significant here isn't just that they're making features—it's that they're doing it while repping a film industry that doesn't get a ton of international shine. That Student Academy Award recognition was a real co-sign, and they're clearly not letting that moment pass. The short proved they had vision and chops. Now we get to see if they can sustain that over a feature runtime.

This is how independent cinema grows—one nomination, one collaboration, one bet on yourself at a time.

Read the full story at Variety → https://variety.com/2026/film/global/student-academy-awards-a-subconscious-dive-jordan-1236853210/