Syrian extras, a Chinese film crew: the ghost town of the Damascene suburb of Hajar al-Aswad, from which the Islamic State was ousted in 2018, has turned into an action film set for a production of Hong Kong kung fu star Jackie Chan.
Operation Home
, whose storyline mentions only a fictional country called "Poman", is inspired by China's 2015 evacuation of hundreds of Chinese and foreign citizens from warring Yemen aboard Chinese navy ships.
Beijing then boasted of the success of the operation, emphasizing its humanitarian role and its growing global influence.
🎥 Ghost neighborhood in the suburbs of Damascus since a Syrian operation in 2018 dislodged jihadists there, Hajar al-Aswad has turned into an action film set for a production by Hong Kong kung fu star Jackie Chan ⤵️ #AFP #AFPTV pic.twitter.com/No2GCuzYSl
— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) July 18, 2022
Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent
By clicking on "
I ACCEPT
", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners
I ACCEPT
And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.
More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.
Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula and still torn by war, is considered too dangerous and some scenes of the film, co-produced by the United Arab Emirates, are thus shot in Syria.
A motley crew of actors in traditional Yemeni attire, Syrian extras and members of the Chinese film crew were on hand from Thursday for a shoot that is expected to last several days.
Billed as a blockbuster
Jackie Chan will not travel to Syria to participate in the filming, but he is the main producer of what the synopsis of the film presents as a blockbuster supposed to salute the role of the Chinese authorities in a heroic evacuation.
The film is directed by Yinxi Song.
Hajar al-Aswad was once a densely populated suburb south of Damascus, near the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.
Both areas were the scene of fierce fighting during the war and were at least partially controlled by the jihadist group Islamic State.
“Low Cost Studio”
“War-ravaged areas have turned into studios.
These areas attract film producers,” says co-director Rawad Chahine, who is part of the Syrian film crew.
“Building similar studios in these areas is very expensive, so they are considered low-cost studios,” he adds.
Since 2011, Syria has already attracted several foreign productions, notably from Russia and Iran, two allied countries of the Syrian regime.
The Home Operation
film crew
plans to film at several locations around the country.
Movie theater
Will Smith's return after La Gifle may be with a fourth "Bad Boy"
People
Lea Michele returns to Broadway with 'Funny Girl' show
Movie theater
Syria
China
Shooting
Film
Daesh