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Jordanian short AMBUSH by Yassmina Karajah to screen at eighth El Gouna Film Festival
19 September 2025
Following its world premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival and its international premiere at the 30th Busan International Film Festival, Yassmina Karajah’s short film AMBUSH is set to hold its Arab World premiere at the eighth El Gouna Film Festival, running from October 16th to 24th.
Blending documentary elements with fiction, the Jordanian short revolves around a pop-up techno club that ambushes the streets of downtown Amman, flooding a conservative neighborhood with heavy bass and unfamiliar faces. Jana arrives, newly sober, wrestling with intimacy. While across the street, Hasan watches from his family's rooftop, anticipating a long-overdue encounter.
Speaking on her film, Karajah has stated, “This film is a love letter to my hometown. It’s shaped like a visual poem but rooted in the everyday moments and tensions of Ammani youth. We’re honoring and grieving the cities and the people that have shaped us and, perhaps at times, failed us. “I hope this film reflects a sense of Arab tenderness, in forms we rarely see: Arab men who are vulnerable and multidimensional and Arab women who are not victims but complex protagonists,” she added.
Written and directed by Yasmina Karajah, AMBUSH stars Sereen Khass and Emad AlKobari, with supporting performances by Joanna Arida, Baha Sulieman, Moath Zakzook, and Mohammad Jayousi. It is produced by Aseel Abu Ayyash, Raya Abu AlRub, Yousef Abed Alnabi, and Joaquin Cardoner from Migmar Pictures, with MAD Distribution handling the film’s distribution across the Arab World.
Executive production is led by Rula Nasser in collaboration with her company, Imaginarium Films. The cinematography is by Farhad Ghaderi, with editing by Abdallah Sada and sound design by Janis Ahnert.
Yassmina Karajah is a Jordanian-Palestinian screenwriter and director whose work has screened at major international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, AFI Fest, Melbourne International Film Festival, and New Directors/New Films at MoMA.
Her short film RUPTURE (2018) was named to TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten, acquired by The Criterion Channel, and awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance, where she became the first recipient of the Russo Brothers Fellowship. Her latest short, AMBUSH (2025), premiered at TIFF and will compete in the Wide Angle Asian Short Film Competition at the Busan International Film Festival.
She holds an LL.B. from the University of Bristol and a BFA in Film Production from the University of British Columbia and is a graduate of the Canadian Film Center’s Directors’ Lab. She is currently developing her debut feature, set in Amman, Jordan.
Blending documentary elements with fiction, the Jordanian short revolves around a pop-up techno club that ambushes the streets of downtown Amman, flooding a conservative neighborhood with heavy bass and unfamiliar faces. Jana arrives, newly sober, wrestling with intimacy. While across the street, Hasan watches from his family's rooftop, anticipating a long-overdue encounter.
Speaking on her film, Karajah has stated, “This film is a love letter to my hometown. It’s shaped like a visual poem but rooted in the everyday moments and tensions of Ammani youth. We’re honoring and grieving the cities and the people that have shaped us and, perhaps at times, failed us. “I hope this film reflects a sense of Arab tenderness, in forms we rarely see: Arab men who are vulnerable and multidimensional and Arab women who are not victims but complex protagonists,” she added.
Written and directed by Yasmina Karajah, AMBUSH stars Sereen Khass and Emad AlKobari, with supporting performances by Joanna Arida, Baha Sulieman, Moath Zakzook, and Mohammad Jayousi. It is produced by Aseel Abu Ayyash, Raya Abu AlRub, Yousef Abed Alnabi, and Joaquin Cardoner from Migmar Pictures, with MAD Distribution handling the film’s distribution across the Arab World.
Executive production is led by Rula Nasser in collaboration with her company, Imaginarium Films. The cinematography is by Farhad Ghaderi, with editing by Abdallah Sada and sound design by Janis Ahnert.
Yassmina Karajah is a Jordanian-Palestinian screenwriter and director whose work has screened at major international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, AFI Fest, Melbourne International Film Festival, and New Directors/New Films at MoMA.
Her short film RUPTURE (2018) was named to TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten, acquired by The Criterion Channel, and awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance, where she became the first recipient of the Russo Brothers Fellowship. Her latest short, AMBUSH (2025), premiered at TIFF and will compete in the Wide Angle Asian Short Film Competition at the Busan International Film Festival.
She holds an LL.B. from the University of Bristol and a BFA in Film Production from the University of British Columbia and is a graduate of the Canadian Film Center’s Directors’ Lab. She is currently developing her debut feature, set in Amman, Jordan.
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