Najdat Anzour’s (King of the Sands) Film Soon in Damascus

Born in Aleppo in 1954, renowned Syrian film maker Najdat Anzour was graduated from university with a degree in mechanical engineering. His father Ismael Anzour directed the first Syrian film ever made and was the one to have the greatest impact on Anzour’s artistic orientations, and was his guide through cinema and art.

He directed his first commercial at the age of 18, and then worked in Jordan for more than 15 years, directing a variety of very successful projects. His first TV feature ‘Nozha Ala Al Rimal’ (Promenade on the sand) won him the bronze award at the first Bagdad international TV festival in 1987.

The first Jordanian film he directed was ‘Hikaya Sharquiya’ (Eastern Tales) which participated in 23rd international film festival that granted him many awards.

He returned to Syria in 1994 and took part in the great Syrian drama renaissance at the time and founded the visual school of TV. In 1994 he directed the famous TV series ‘Nihayat Rajol Shoujaa’ (The End of a Brave Man), which was considered a breakthrough in the quality of the Arab drama.

(King of the Sands) is a biopic of Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd al-Rahman Al Saud, also known as ‘Ibn Saud’, an emir of the central Arabian Al Saud clan and founder of the present-day kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The film itself was a shocker. To describe it as a sword, sandal and a camel opera would be to belittle the significance of the story. Set in the Saudi Arabian desert in the early 1930s of the 20th century, it explores the origin of the Saudi Royal family and how their founder Prince Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Rahman al-Saud seized power from their enemies Al Rasheed dynasty in Riyadh to become king in 1932 with a help from the British.

The film attempts at emphasising the connection between modern day terrorism committed by “Jihadists” and extremists, inspired by the Saudi strand of “Islamic” Wahhabism, and succeeds in provoking controversy. It depicts the Saudis in a negative portray with shocking images of violence and crude sexual exploits.

The director Najdat Anzour has said in an interview with the Lebanese” Al Safir” that the movie is a “big production”. “The movie displays the life of the founder of the Al Saud family in Saudi Arabia; Abdulaziz bin Abdurrahman bin Al Saud’s returning from exile in Kuwait, his assault on Riyadh to end the Al Rashid dynasty, and his turning to Najd and defeat of the Hashimi family with the help of Britain through their notorious spy John Philby,” he added.

Anzour said that the movie has been produced with high quality and it stars British, Turk, and Italian actors. “The movie faced problems with the Saudis since it disgraces them. But they have many friends around the world and so far they have been attempting to prevent the release,” he asserted.

Anzour has a reputation throughout the Arab world not only for high quality films and TV series, particularly elaborate historical dramas, but also for his treatment of sensitive contemporary issues and his uncompromising rejection of extremism. His message reads: while the Muslim world suffers from a myriad of problems, terrorists are cold-blooded killers who primarily murder Muslims.

(King of the Sands) will be screened Thursday evening at Dar al-Assad for Culture and House (the Opera House) in Damascus.

 Butheina Al-Nounou