5 years since the passing of Hatem Ali.. Has Syrian drama lost its “genius”?

Over many years, Syrian drama lost dozens of writers, directors, photographers, musicians, and heroes, but the shock that struck it, on the morning of December 29, 2020, was the sudden departure of director Hatem Ali, who was found dead in his room at the Zamalek Marriott Hotel. As a result of his heart attack, it seems that it put the Syrian drama into a deep slumber.

No one denies the importance of the many directors, writers, and actors, who are still presenting the juice of their artistic creativity on the Syrian screen, or tweeting on other shared screens, but it is as if the dramatic situation itself has lost an important and irreplaceable pillar, and one of its eternal symbols.

Hatem Ali passed away while laying out the outlines for the series “Safar Barlak”, which was scheduled to be shown in the Ramadan 2021 drama, but he passed away and the project stopped forever, it seems, as there is no one like Hatem Ali in historical drama, nor anyone who has his precise vision in transferring history to the screen.

The audience remembers the name Hatem Ali along with immortal dramatic works, including: “The Four Seasons,” “Al-Zeer Salem,” “The Andalus Trilogy,” “The Palestinian Exile,” “King Farouk,” and “Al-Farouk Omar.” He also presented several works in Egypt, the most recent of which was the series “Is This What Happened?”

Hatem Ali died at the age of 58. He was a graduate of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in the mid-eighties. He began his artistic career as an actor, but he did not achieve the fame he achieved as a director. He left dozens of works to his credit, which will never be erased from the memory of the Arab public. With his passing, Syrian drama lost its “genius,” as if the secret of distinction and superiority had evaporated when he died in pain.

Many may not know that Hatem Ali’s artistic “genius” did not arise from his being a director who saw the scene before filming it, or an actor who – as a director – knew how to employ his colleagues and bring them out in the best way. Rather, it also lay in his being a brilliant writer, as he published two short story collections: “What Happened and What Did Not Happen” and “The Death of the Old History Teacher.” In addition, he was an experienced screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for the movie “The Night Visitor,” which was directed by Mohamed Badr Khan. He also wrote the screenplay for the series “The Castles,” which was directed by Maamoun Al-Bunni. He wrote and directed a television movie called “The Horse,” and co-wrote the movie “Late the Night” with writer Abdel Majeed Haider, through which he won the first award as a director from the Cairo Radio and Television Festival in 1996.

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Hatem Ali also wrote three plays, in cooperation with theater director Zinati Qudsiyeh, including: “The Siege.” He also wrote the play “The Story of Masoud,” which was directed by Zinati Qudsiyeh for the “Kenitra Ensemble.”

As a theater director, Hatem Ali presented three distinguished plays: “He Died 3 Times” in 1996, “Yesterday… Today… and Tomorrow” in 1998, and “Ahl al-Hawa” in 2003, leaving a clear mark on the Syrian theatre.

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