The Kurdistan Film Commission is conducting its first workshop in collaboration with the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles to familiarize students with jargon used on film sets.

“The workshop will teach the students terminology used on the film sets in Hollywood. This is imperative for our local workforce in order to enable them to work with the U.S. and European studios that we are working to attract,” Jano Rojbeyani, the Kurdistan Film Commission’s Director of International Producer Relations, told Kurdistan Chronicle.

“Training a workforce that is accustomed to the trade’s jargon and has a work ethic that meets Western standards will be another step in encouraging foreign producers to consider the Kurdistan Region as a location for shooting their films,” he said.

The workshop will be given online and taught by a Hollywood production manager assigned by the American Film Showcase (AFS) program. 

AFS is the premier film diplomacy program of the U.S. government and is produced by the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.

“Such projects are supported by the U.S. Department of State, which is the primary sponsor of the AFS project. The workshop will span 10 weeks for three hours (or two 90-minute sessions) per week. We aim to have as many as 40 students for this workshop. We have initiated a call for enrollment,” Rojbeyani added.

The workshop date remains uncertain until a sufficient number of enrollments – between 20 and 40 students – is reached.

The Kurdistan Film Commission was founded in October 2023 with the purpose of laying the groundwork to entice international production companies to shoot their films in the Kurdistan Region. 

The Commission’s website highlights the Kurdistan Region as a hub for foreign investment and tourism with high-quality amenities and direct flights to many destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

“What sets the Kurdistan region apart as a viable filming location is the security factor. We take pride in being dubbed as the place of peace and coexistence. Kurdistan is home to an amalgamation of various religious and ethnic backgrounds who have shared the land since time immemorial,” the landing page of the website reads.

Rojbeyani explained that the idea for the Kurdistan Film Commission was instigated when he discovered that a handful of action movies about the war on ISIS were in development by various Hollywood studios. “When I inquired about the films, I was informed that we must set up a film commission office licensed by the Association of Film Commissioners International,” he stated. 

“We are now a member of the association and are listed in the global commissioner directory. The second condition to attract international studios is to invite a delegation of studio location scouts and managers for a familiarity tour, which we are implementing in April. The upcoming workshop is the start of a series of training sessions with the aim to train the region’s workforce and bring them up to Western standards in terms of technical expertise and work ethic,” he concluded.