Damascus-SANA
The Ministry of Information and the Syrian Artists Syndicate mourned the great Syrian director Muhammad Ferdous Al-Atassi, who passed away today at the age of 79 in a hospital in Damascus.
The works of the late, one of the pioneers of dramatic directing over 50 years of professional work, were characterized by a sense of humanity and transparency. His dramatic works have gained a great audience over decades, both social, historical and comedic.
Al-Atassi, who was born in Homs in 1942, studied at the Higher Institute of Arts in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and graduated in 1970. His first work was a play (Strangers Don't Drink Coffee), and the Damascus Theater Festival was opened in 1971.
Al-Atassi, who has worked in Syrian Arab TV since 1972, directed many TV series and films with daily life details. The Black Painting, The Doctor, The Convicted, Family Memoirs, Hannah Dates, Sapphire, Escape to the Top, Gibran Khalil Gibran, The Last Rose, and the Watan Haf).
Al-Atassi worked as a teacher at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts for more than ten years and was a member of the jury of many international festivals in Prague, Cairo, Tunis and Manama.
Al-Atassi has many gold, silver and bronze awards from Tehran, Cairo, Tunisia and Prague, in addition to the fact that he has won many certificates of appreciation in Syria for his successful television work, which bears the obsession of serving the country and preserving the Syrian drama and keeping it at the forefront.
Rasha Mahfoud