Syrian TV Drama Presses ahead with Landslide Success

Despite the unfair sanctions imposed by the Arab League, Syrian public and private drama companies went ahead with a number of successful television projects during the past season. About twenty seven Syrian TV drama series were screened during the holy month of Ramadan proving the great progress realized by Syrian TV drama production.  Syria’s national television and radio producer, the International Syria Company, and a number of private companies remain upbeat about their production schedule defying the unfair sanctions which target the Syrian people’s various aspects of life including their art and civilization.

Comedy series had the lion’s share among this year’s production including new parts of series that has been shown over the past few years. These include : Zeit Kaz(Oil Kerosene), written by Zuheir Kanouh and based on Ayman Rida’s story; Sukkar Maleh (Salty Sugar) starring Amal Arafa and al-Muthanna Subeh.

 Spotlight, which is satirical sketches that deal with many sensitive topics, related to the country’s politics, economy and social life continued to be screened for the ninth year. Issues like administrative and economic corruption, religious radicalism, and gender problems were discussed in an attractive comic style. 

In an episode named (One hand) the protagonist seeks to convince others to act all together and stay united reminding the audience of the importance of national unity among all categories of society to confront various challenges.

Other successful TV series included Abu Janti, “Girls” and “The Days of Study” which attracted huge audience all over the Arab world due to the daring approach pursued by directors.

Syrian director Fadi Ghazi presented a very successful TV drama comedy that is considered a development of his previous comic series. Starring Ayman Reda and other famous Syrian drama actors, the series deals with the story of a father and his four daughters, highlighting comic aspects in the Damascene people’s life.

Syrian actress Amal Arafeh achieved great success in Rafet Ein(  Eye Blink ) in which she distanced herself from  ready-made moulds .

The script, which was written by Arafeh herself, was produced in the black comedy style.
Imitating a previous series she acted more than ten years ago, namely “Dunia”, Arafeh focuses on the story of “Hadia” the heroine of the series who moves among various worlds including prison, thievery, dancing and house-serving to deal with several social topics of great concern to Arab citizens.

K.Q.