Cinema of Syria
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History
In 1908 the first film ever screened in Syria was in a cafe in Aleppo. Later in 1916 the Ottoman administration established the first film theater in Damascus. The theater was inaugurated by the Ottoman governor Jamal Pasha, but got burned down nearly a month later. The French took mandate over Syria at the time and many film theaters were built in Damascus. The silent black and white feature "Al Muttaham al Baree" (The Innocent Suspect) was released in 1928, to be the first Syrian film ever produced. The film was written, directed and produced by Rasheed Jalal in association with Ahmed Tello. The crew established "Hermon Film" production company as the first Syrian production company. In 1934 the second silent black and white film "Tahta Sama' Dimashq" (Under the Damascus Sky) was released coinciding with the Egyptian musical talkie Unshudat al Fuad (Hymn of the Heart). The Syrian film was overshadowed by the Egyptian film's success and became a commercial failure.
Nazih Shabandar established in 1947 a film production studio filled with equipment created by him. In 1948 he produced the first Syrian talkie "Nur wa Thalam" (Light and Darkness), written by Mohamed Shamel and Ali el-Arna'ut and encompassing future film stars Rafiq Shukri, Yevett Feghli and Anwar el Baba. [1]
See Also
References
- ^ "The Paradoxes of Syrian Cinema" (PDF). Kosmorama. The Danish Film Institute. 2006. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
