'Theeb' cast receive hero's welcome

AMMAN — Culture Minister Lana Mamkegh and several Jordanians received cast members of the Oscar nominated film "Theeb" at the Queen Alia International Airport on Thursday, upon their return from Los Angeles, where the 88th Academy Award ceremony was held.

Mamkegh voiced Jordanians' pride in the achievement of the film's cast and crew, noting that it can be built on to pave the way for more Jordanian film projects, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The feature, a coming-of-age tale set in the Arabian Desert of 1916, is the first Jordanian film to earn an Oscar nomination.

Since its release in international film festivals in August 2014, “Theeb”, directed and co-scripted by Naji Abu Nowar, has been screened in 25 countries, won 18 awards, including Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, according to the movie’s distributor, MAD Solutions.

It lost the best foreign film award to the Hungarian Holocaust film "Son of Saul".

In February, Abu Nowar and producer Robert Lloyd won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer.