'The Negotiations' crew from South Korea arrived in Jordan on July 5.

Jordans dramatic deserts and historical cityscapes, which have graced the likes of Star Wars Rogue One and The Rise of Skywalker, will now play host to South Korean production, The Negotiations, for the next few months. The film features top-billed stars Hyun Bin (most recently, of Crash Landing on You fame) and Hwang Jung-min (Battleship Island, Ode to My Father, Veteran), and will be directed by Yim Soon-rye, a leading female auteur of Korean New Wave cinema.

Originally, filming was scheduled to start in Jordan earlier this year, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Negotiations (also referred to as Bargaining in some reports, because it is a direct translation of the Korean title) began shooting some of its Korea-set scenes first. The film, based on true events, tells the story of a National Intelligence Service (NIS) agent and diplomat working together to rescue South Koreans taken hostage in the Middle East.

The South Korea-Jordan filmmaking connection is historically strong, with the award-winning and highly popular 2014 South Korean TV series, Misaeng,filmed in Jordan's Wadi Rum, Amman and Petra. Jordans Royal Film Commission (RFC) is also the only Arab organization part of the Asian Film Commissions Network, headed by the Busan Film Commission based in South Korea.

While border closures and travel restrictions still remain in Jordan, special arrangements were made for the South Korean film crew to enter the country and begin production work on The Negotiations. The crew first flew on a commercial flight from South Korea to Qatar, before boarding a chartered plane from Qatar to Jordan.

According to a press release from the RFC, the crew arrived at Queen Alia International Airport, located 20 miles south of the capital city of Amman, on July 5. A video published by the RFC shows the crew arriving at the airport and undergoing Covid-19 precautionary measures.

Mohannad Al-Bakri, the RFCs managing director, said, During the whole period, we went all over and formed a task force from every single entity of the government, and we agreed, we want to open the film industry. Keeping productions going in the country, for both local and foreign titles, was critical, as the pre-Ramadan period also usually sees an increased number of shoots for television series. Jordans coronavirus caseload has remained relatively low, with a total of 1169 cases and 10 deaths, as of July 10.

Al-Bakri also shared in detail the numerous safety and health measures in place to keep everyone involved with The Negotiations safe: All cast and crew are tested for Covid-19 in South Korea, prior to their travel to Jordan. They also have to serve a quarantine of eight days, of which three days can be observed in their home country, with the remaining five days carried out at a hotel in Amman.

Though a total of around 110 cast and crew from South Korea will be in Jordan for the production, they are arriving in three different groups, depending on their involvement with the film. Production teams are kept as small as possible, which will help with safe distancing requirements and other health regulations.

Another overseas production, Indias Aadujeevitham (Goat Days), starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, had arrived in Jordan in mid-March, as the Covid-19 pandemic around the world grew more severe. While a government lockdown halted production in Jordan for a short period, arrangements were made for the crew to continue production, as they were filming in the remote Wadi Rum desert. Production wrapped in mid-May and the crew returned to India.

The South Korean crews arrival in Jordan is just a small reflection of how the host country has served as a vibrant location for global film production for decades. Rising to prominence onscreen in the 1962 epic directed by David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia, Jordan has also served as a filming location for Hollywood blockbusters like Aladdin, Zero Dark Thirty, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, and Netflix NFLX s Sergio.

Jordan's Wadi Rum Desert, where films like 'Rogue One' and 'The Rise of Skywalker' from the Star ... [+] Wars saga, were filmed.

Jordans geographical diversity and variety of landscapes and terrains, along with the countrys position as a stable and safe destination, have allowed it to grow as a popular filming location. The local film commission has organized a yearly familiarization tour for Hollywood film executives for the past nine years, not just to promote Jordans breath-taking desert landscapes, ancient cities and Dead Sea waterfronts as filming locations, but also allow them to meet with Jordanian film companies, producers and writers and discuss potential collaborations.

Local film crews play a significant role in the foreign productions shooting in Jordan, working across above-the-line and below-the-line positions. For example, around 150 Jordanian crew and extras were involved with Aladdin in 2017. Several Jordanian crew members also followed the production to London for studio work.

Al-Bakri also shared, Now Im looking at not only the Hollywood familiarization tours, but also the Asian, because also we are part of the Asian Film [Commission] Network, we go to Korea every year. Im also trying to arrange trips...to Europe. Because we usually receive a lot of European projects, but on a smaller scale. We receive so much from the region.

Cash rebates and tax exemptions are in place to encourage foreign productions to shoot in Jordan and also employ local filmmaking talent. Maximum cash rebates for production-related expenses in Jordan were raised from 20% to 25% last year. To be eligible for cash rebates, productions should employ at least 50 Jordanian crew members and train 20 interns, but the commission has also indicated that it was considering moving towards a percentage system for local crew involvement instead ofrequiring fixed numbers.

According to the RFC, in the past ten years, the Jordanian film industry has brought in an estimated $372 million to the Kingdoms economy and created 106,000 jobs. In the last quarter of 2019, there were 18 productions filming in Jordan, with a total spend of around $50 million and approximately 7,000 jobs created.

More:

Crew For Korean Thriller The Negotiations Arrives In Jordan, A Booming Location For Global Film Production - Forbes