By Natasha Twal

the Jordan Times (used w/permission).

AMMAN - The travails of Raz, a young Arab American woman searching for her true self, is the theme of a feature film that producers hope to shoot entirely in Jordan but with the western market as its target audience.

The film project, "Falls the Shadow," is the brainchild of Jackie Oweis Sawiris, an Arab American director, born of a Jordanian mother and Egyptian father.

"It is a semi-autobiographical epic love story of denial, the search for and, ultimately, the acceptance of self," explained Sawiris, also a screenwriter and an actress.

For the enthusiastic 39-year-old, the efforts she is exerting are not just about making a movie. The film would be a prototype upon which other Jordanian film productions could be based, helping the burgeoning film community here "develop into a commercially competitive entity within the global media marketplace," she explained.

It is also about breaking stereotypes. "The objective is to show that the Middle East is not only about politics and religion. It is also home to a deep-rooted culture that is being ignored," Sawiris told The Jordan Times, explaining that "Jordan" is the primary focus of the project.

Sawiris, who admitted to rebelling against her Arab origin at an early age and her "curly black hair," believes it is the responsibility of Arab Americans to change the negative image of Arabs in the US.

"My way of doing that is by making movies, as I believe showing is more effective than telling."

According to the filmmaker, the Kingdom needs a monster public relations boost, which can be done through movies. The film's locations are all over the country, in Amman, Aqaba, the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum and Petra.

"The tourist benefit is a well-known added-bonus of making a film on location. Examples include Thailand seen in `The Beach' and London in `Notting Hill'," she pointed out. "I want people who watch it in places like Times Square or Leicester Square to say: `Oh my God! What a cool place. I wanna go there!'"

A member of the Screen Actors Guild in the States, Sawiris considers her nanny role in Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut," as her major achievement. "I feel fortunate that I got to work with such a brilliant person before he passed away," said Sawiris, who holds a Bachelor degree in journalism from New York University.

"He encouraged me to continue with acting, as I was about to give up from sheer frustration."

Her contacts within the industry in the US and UK prompted her to bring together a professional team from both the oriental and the occidental, explained the filmmaker, currently in the Kingdom in search of funding for the ambitious project.

One of those that has expressed interest in taking a leading role in the film is renowned Moroccan actor Said Taghmaoui, who played a prominent Iraqi in "Three Kings" with George Clooney and had a star teaming with Kate Winslet in "Hideous Kinky."

Sawiris is also teaming up with Netherlands-based Jordanian director Mahmoud Massad, whose movie "Shatter Hassan" gained a number of international awards.

Two of the four leading characters will come from the West, while the remainder will be drawn from the Arab world - primarily Jordan, said the director.

"Just as the story of `Falls the Shadow' unites the Western and the Middle Eastern worlds, so will the production itself."

The film's protagonists are Sevrin, a spiritual being waiting to reunite with the woman he lost, Zayna, a mother waiting to find the child taken away from her, Raz, the American returning to a country she rejected and Zeid, a man falling out of love with his homeland and in love with Raz.

For Sawiris the movie is completely Jordan-centric. "I got offers to do the same script in Mexico and in India. But I turned them down. The movie is entirely about the country I fell in love with."