LONDON -- While investors in the Persian Gulf are getting a seat for themselves at the international film players' table by inking a stream of billion-dollar real estate deals with U.S. studios, filmmakers in Jordan are announcing their presence on the world stage by getting awards attention at fests including Sundance.

Amin Matalqa's "Captain Abu Raed," the country's first feature in some 50 years, won Sundance's World Cinema Audience Award, while Mahmoud Al-Massad's doc "Recycle" took the World Cinema cinematography prize.

The brace of victories marks the quiet cinematic emergence of oil-free Jordan. That success is set to continue. Two significant U.S. film companies are vying to buy "Captain Abu Raed," a heartwarming tale of an airport janitor who pretends to be an airline pilot so he can regale the poor neighborhood kids with imagined tales of his world travels, in a deal that may end up being the highest ever for an Arab film.

Matalqa is already working on a follow-up to his feted debut. "Once Upon Amman" will reunite the cast of "Captain Abu Raed," including Nadim Sawalha, who won the actor prize at the Dubai Film Fest, for a tale about a student who is in love with his teacher and a parallel story about a taxi driver who tries to lead a model life for his young son.

"Captain Abu Raed" opened in Jordan Feb. 6 and will roll out across the Middle East in March.

Al-Massad is also prepping his next project. While "Recycle" was a powerful portrayal of a former mujahedeen attempting to rebuild his life in the Jordanian town of Zarqa (also the birthplace of notorious insurgent Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi), Al-Massad is turning to the funny for "Jackie and the 40 Yellow Cabs."

Laffer is a semiautobiographical feature about a failed filmmaker who goes to any lengths to finish his own documentary after returning from abroad to lense in his native Jordan. "Everyone in this film is a failure. That's why I like it," says Al-Massad.

Jordan's Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts, a film school developed with the U. of Southern California and boasting the support of Steven Spielberg, opens its doors for applications Feb. 17, with courses beginning in September. The institute will be the Middle East's first regional film school.