Jordanian Filmmakers Raghad Albakheet and Danial Salman Set Debut Features After Student Academy Award Breakthrough
Jordanian filmmakers Raghad Albakheet and Danial Salman are moving from their internationally recognized short film A Subconscious Dive into feature filmmaking, with each developing a separate debut project.
The duo’s short, directed by Albakheet and produced by Salman, became only the second film in Jordanian history to receive Student Academy Award recognition after reaching the semifinalist shortlist in the Alternative/Experimental category.
Fast Facts
- A Subconscious Dive was directed by Raghad Albakheet and produced by Danial Salman.
- The film was made through the Jordan Cinema Academy program at German Jordanian University.
- It became only the second Jordanian film to receive Student Academy Award recognition.
- Albakheet is developing her debut feature, Ice Cream Truck.
- Salman is developing his first feature, The Memory of You.
- Salman is also developing the short film What Remains, about the generational consequences of honor killings.
- A Subconscious Dive was made with a reported budget of just $4,231.
The recognition has given both filmmakers an international platform, but their next steps are taking them in different creative directions.
For Albakheet, that means expanding the psychological and experimental ideas explored in A Subconscious Dive into a feature-length story. Salman, meanwhile, is developing a deeply personal family drama inspired by events following the death of his grandfather.
From a student short to Jordan’s international film scene
A Subconscious Dive was produced through the Jordan Cinema Academy at German Jordanian University, where Albakheet and Salman were part of the academy’s first cohort.
The short follows a woman during a hypnotherapy session as she descends into her subconscious and confronts memories from different stages of her life.
Its visual language moves between childhood, adolescence, adulthood and motherhood, using underwater imagery and abstract sequences to explore buried pain.
The film was particularly ambitious considering the filmmakers’ student status and limited resources.
Salman said the production had a budget of $4,231 and required the team to work across several locations in Jordan.
One of the biggest challenges was filming underwater in Aqaba. Albakheet completed scuba-diving training so she could participate in filming the underwater sequences herself.
Production also took place at the Al Azraq Wetland Reserve, where the team worked with the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.
The location required extensive logistics, including moving cast, crew, equipment and props from Amman and coordinating with guardians to protect the safety and comfort of child actors.
Raghad Albakheet develops ‘Ice Cream Truck’
Albakheet is now taking the ideas behind A Subconscious Dive into her first feature film, Ice Cream Truck.
She describes the project as a narrative continuation of the short’s psychological concerns, but with a much larger canvas.
The story centers on a woman confronting different chapters of her life in a space suspended between life and death.
The film will explore the subconscious through psychological and experimental elements while examining suppressed emotions and experiences.
Albakheet says the story is rooted in her own perspective as a woman, while aiming to address emotions and experiences that can resonate beyond a specific culture or demographic.
The project is currently in mid-development. Albakheet and producer Ahmad Alkhlaifat have completed a second draft and are seeking development funds and writing labs to help finalize the budget.
The filmmakers currently plan to shoot in Jordan and the UAE, although the eventual production footprint will depend on financing and any co-production arrangements.
Albakheet has also been involved in screenwriting initiatives and evaluating scripts for major fellowship programs as she develops her feature career.
Danial Salman’s first feature is deeply personal
Salman is pursuing a different story for his feature debut.
His project, The Memory of You, is inspired by his own family and begins with the death of his late grandfather, his mother’s father.
The film follows the conflict that emerges among siblings over inheritance, turning a family dispute into a broader examination of memory, grief and relationships.
Alzheimer’s is another important layer of the story.
Salman says the film will explore the idea that memories may be among the most valuable things people possess, giving the inheritance conflict an emotional dimension beyond property or money.
The project is being developed alongside his other filmmaking work.
Salman also has another short in development
Before making his feature debut, Salman is continuing to develop short-form work.
His short film Acceptance premiered at the Amman Film Festival in July and is currently on the festival circuit.
The film follows a young man overwhelmed by grief after a painful personal loss and his struggle to escape that suffering.
Salman is also developing What Remains, another short scheduled to shoot next year.
That film tackles the sensitive subject of honor killings and examines how the consequences and ideas surrounding them can be passed from one generation to another.
Together, the projects show Salman moving toward stories centered on grief, family, social pressure and the psychological consequences of loss.
Why the Student Academy recognition matters
For both filmmakers, the success of A Subconscious Dive represents more than an awards milestone.
It is only the second Jordanian film to receive Student Academy Award recognition, following Murad Abu Eisheh’s Tala’vision, which won a Student Academy Award.
The achievement also carries particular significance because A Subconscious Dive came from the Jordan Cinema Academy’s first cohort.
That gives the recognition importance for the filmmakers as well as for the academy and Jordan’s developing film infrastructure.
Albakheet has said the international attention validated her visual and nonlinear approach and strengthened her confidence in taking psychologically intimate stories to a wider audience.
For Salman, the experience demonstrated that a project created within a young Jordanian film program could reach an international awards platform.
A new generation of Jordanian filmmakers
The transition from A Subconscious Dive to two separate feature projects also illustrates a broader development in Jordanian cinema.
Both filmmakers are using the visibility generated by a low-budget student production to build independent careers around original stories.
Albakheet is expanding her experimental psychological approach through Ice Cream Truck, while Salman is turning personal family history into the foundation for The Memory of You.
Neither project is yet a finished feature production. Both remain in development, with financing, development support and production structures still to be finalized.
But the trajectory is already clear.
A student short that began with a $4,231 budget has opened an international door for two emerging Jordanian filmmakers. Their next challenge is turning that momentum into feature films that can carry their individual voices beyond the recognition of their first collaboration.
FAQs
What is A Subconscious Dive?
A Subconscious Dive is a Jordanian short film directed by Raghad Albakheet and produced by Danial Salman. It explores memory, subconscious emotions and painful experiences through psychological and experimental imagery.
What is Raghad Albakheet’s debut feature?
Albakheet is developing Ice Cream Truck, a psychological narrative feature exploring a woman’s confrontation with different stages of her life in a space between life and death.
What is Danial Salman’s debut feature?
Salman is developing The Memory of You, a personal family drama involving inheritance conflicts, grief and Alzheimer’s.
Why is A Subconscious Dive significant for Jordan?
The film became only the second Jordanian film in history to receive Student Academy Award recognition after reaching the semifinalist shortlist in the Alternative/Experimental category.
Where will Ice Cream Truck be filmed?
The current plan is to shoot in Jordan and the UAE, although the final locations will depend on funding and co-production arrangements.
