In the desert, winds of change

December 17, 2008 Begun Dec. 11 at the Madinat Jumeirah resort complex and in cinemas around the city of 4 million on the Arabian Gulf, the fifth edition of the festival carried the motto "Bridging Cultures, Meeting Minds." Festival director Abdulhamid Juma and DIFF artistic director Masoud Amralla Al Ali, dressed in elegant white robes, oversaw attention to every detail for a diverse global guest list that included everyone from veteran Hollywood stars like Danny Glover and Nicolas Cage to up-and-coming filmmakers from the world over. On Wednesday, the Royal Film Commission of Jordan told The Hollywood Reporter that it plans to launch a film fund in 2009 for small- to midsize films from the region, welcoming filmmakers to participate in the fifth edition of its Sundance screenwriting workshop each October.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.