● When the first film show of Lumiere's took place in Le Grand Café in Paris in 1985, Syria was still burdened with the Ottoman occupation.

The Syrians did not know cinema until 1908, when a group of foreigners, arriving via Turkey, held a film show in one of Aleppo city's cafés.

Yet, the official start of cinema in Syria was the show held by Habib Al-Shammas in his café in Damascus city in 1912, using a manual projecting machine.

● In 1916, the Ottoman state inaugurated the first film theatre in Damascus (in the same place where the Parliament building is standing now), and it was called (Janaq Qala'at) in commemoration of the Turkish victory over the British fleet in Janaq Qalaat straits , connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Jamal Pasha, the Turkish ruler of Syria, attended this premiere, in which people watched German films. Nevertheless, this theatre was burnt down one month after its inauguration.

● In 1918, another theatre was opened, called (Zahrat Dimashq), in partnership between Salo, the mechanical who used to operate Janaq Qalaat's machines, and the proprietor of the café where this theatre was built.

● In 1920, two years after the end of the Ottoman occupation of Syria, and its independence, France sent its troops to invade Syria and announced its mandate over the young Syrian state.

Accordingly, the national Syrian film production was delayed up to the end of the 1920's; because the country was in a state of revolt against the French colonialists during the larger part of the 1920's.

Then, Syria knew a period of relative stability and calm, so it became possible of thinking of cinema and film production.

● In 1928, that is one year after the start of film production in Egypt, (The Innocent Suspect), the first Syrian feature film was produced.

The producers were a group of young men: Ayoub Badri, Ahmad Tello, Mohammad Al-Muradi and Rashid Jalal; who established a company called "Hermon Film".

» Rashid Jalal directed and photographed the film after writing the script, based on a real incident that took place in Damascus.

» When the film was shown, it became a hit although the French authorities (Syria was still under French mandate), tried to suspend its show.

● In 1931, Helios Company was established and produced (Under Damascus Sky) , a film written and directed by Ismail Anzour and produced by Rashid Jalal. But before this film was shown, (The Heart Song) ,the first Arabic speaking film, entered Syria, and other foreign speaking films followed.

Therefore, (Under Damascus Sky), a silent film, was not a success. Furthermore, the French authorities suspended its show, on the pretext of some weak legal excuses. Therefore, the film suffered great material losses, and the company was liquidated.

He played the leading role with a dancer called (Christine) and some amateur actors. He also directed another film about the revolutions in Palestine against the British mandatory authorities, using sections of foreign films for the battle scenes.

Whereas Ayoub Badri's films were silent, the actors used to come to the theatre and speak up their roles before a microphone to make the audience believe the film was not a silent one.

● Late in the year 1947, one year after independence, Nazih Al-Shahbandar established a studio and equipped it with cinematicequipment, mostly made by him. In 1948, he produced a film called (Light & Darkness), written by Mohammad Shamel and Ali Al-Arnaout.

This was the first speaking Syrian film. The actors who performed in this film became stars later on: Rafiq Shukri, Evet Faghali, Anwar Al-Baba, Hikmat Mohsen, Nizar Fuad and Saadedin Baqdounes.

● In 1950, Erfan & Jaleq Company was established in Aleppo and produced the film (The Passer-by), directed and photographed by Ahmad Erfan , starring the singer: Najib Al-Sarraj.

He starred the film along with Amira Ibrahim, Dalal Al-Shimali, Akram Kholoqi and Khaled Hamdi.

● In 1963, Zuheir Al-Shawwa started his second film: (Beyond the Frontiers) about the Palestinian Cause.

After two years of continuous work, he discovered that it is impossible to complete the film, because he lacked enough money.

● In 1966, Zuheir Al-Shawwa produced, directed and starred his third film (The Devil's Game). Cast: Amira Ibrahim, Najwa Sidqi, Najah Hafiz and others. This was Al-Shawwa's last film.

We can consider this film as the conclusion of a phase in the Syrian cinema distinguished with much enthusiasm and little experience, material resources, technical and artistic capacities.

This cinema depended on the efforts of few amateurs. The amateur would write, produce, direct, act and even sometimes photograph the film.

Practically, this phase did not produce real cinematic industry, but a deep awareness of the cinema and its requirements.

● After the establishment of The Ministry of Culture & National Guide in Syria in 1958, a small department was organized for film production & cinematography, headed by Salah Dihni, a graduate of Cinematic Studies in Paris.

» This department produced several documentaries directed by the Yugoslavian director: Poshko Poshkovitch, and photographed by a Yugoslavian cinematographer Tomislav Pinter, such as (Damascus the Everlasting), (The Only Witness) about Arwad Island, (Types of Beauty) about Latakia and its surroundings.

» Salah Dihni directed several short films, e.g. (Water & Dryness), (Arab Antiquities in Syria); and film serials under the title (Cultural News).

● Syria participated for the first time in an international film festival in 1962, when it participated in Berlin 12th Film Festival, with the film (Damascus the Everlasting).

● In 1963, after the Revolution of March 8th, under the leadership of Ba'ath Arab Socialist party, the General Cinema Organization, affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, but enjoying financial and administrative independence, was established.

Among its duties, as stipulated in its Decree of Establishment, was the production of feature and short films, and establishing studios, cine clubs, as well as spreading cinematic culture, etc.

● The General Cinema Organization produced in its early years a number of short films covering various aspects of the cultural, economic and civilizational life in Syria. But its production of feature films started four years after its establishment, that is in 1967, when it produced (The Truck Driver), written by the well-known lawyer and writer Najat Qassab Hassan and directed by Yugoslavian Poshko Poshkovitch, who had already directed some short films for the Ministry of Culture.

The cast of the film were Syrian actors, of whom we mention: Khaled Taja, Hala Shawkat, Abdullatif Fat'hi, Thanaa Dibsi and others.

» The film tells the story of a young man who works as a truck driver assistant. Through his story, we can see the struggle between the truck drivers demanding wage increase and the employer.

» A long discussion followed the production of this film about the fact that the first feature film produced by the public sector was directed by a foreign director. Nevertheless it seemed that this was inevitable as a start, pending the accumulation by Syrian directors of the necessary experience to perform the hard job of directing feature films.

» However, this film is still significant, although its director was a foreigner. Firstly, because it was the first feature film produced by the public sector. Secondly, it started the trend that dominated most if not all the films produced by this sector later on; that is the trend of dealing with hot social and national questions with a mature and advanced artistic view, without considering the box office as the first and last purpose of film production.

The idea was proposed again in 1970, and the trilogy (Men Under the Sun) was produced, directed by Mohammad Shahin, Marwan Mouazzen and Nabil Al-Maleh.

» The film was produced under the stress of the defeat of the War of June 1967, and in the period when the resistance movement was at its height.

» The film won the Silver Award in Carthage Film Festival, and one part of the trilogy called (The Encounter) won the award of short feature film in Damascus International Festival for Youth Cinema.

» This film is considered as the first feature film produced by the public sector and is Syrian 100%.

● The period between 1963-1975 can be considered as an artistic, intellectual and technical establishment period.

» Technically speaking, the General Cinema Organization had during that period supplied itself with all the necessary equipment to be able to become independent. This was accomplished in 1970, except for the unit of development and colour printing which became ready in 1975.

The cornerstone of a cinematic city was laid down with the purpose of creating a technical base to develop the cinema industry in Syria.

» Intellectually and artistically speaking, because in this stage the subjects dealt with by Syrian films were defined: the Palestinian cause and the effects of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the life and spirit of the Syrian citizen.

Furthermore, we have the social conflict taking place between the have and have nots, between the forces of the past and those of the future.

We can say that the Syrian cinema was going back and forth, since its establishment, between these two concerns, the political national concern and the social one.

→ This stage was also characterized by the openness of Syrian cinema to the representatives of serious Arabic cinema and its cooperation with them.

One of the most distinguished of those was the Egyptian director: Tawfik Saleh, the Iraqi: Qais Al-Zubaidi and the Lebanese: Burhan Alwaiya.

» Generally speaking, the national trend towards comprehensive Arabic causes, such as the Palestinian cause and the Arab unity cause was one of the most important characteristics of the cinema which the General Cinema Organization tried to produce.

Therefore, we notice that the public sector cinema did not produce a variety of genres; e.g. it did not produce musicals, light comedies or adventure films that achieve success in box office.

Since its establishment, the Syrian cinema aimed at achieving a comprehensive cultural mission, to raise the level of film appreciation, and make cinema, the most attractive art to the masses, contribute to the battle fought by the serious culture against all that is trivial and reactionary.

→ Here, we have to say that the Corrective Movement lead by President Hafez Al-Assad in 1970 played a great role in developing the cinematic movement since the early 1970's.

» (The Knife) (1971), directed by Khaled Hamada, and adapted from the novel of Ghassan Kanafani's : (What is Left For You). It deals indirectly an aspect of the Palestinian cause.

» (The Leopard) directed by Nabil Al-Maleh adapted from a story of the same title written by Haidar Haidar. It won the Jury Award in Damascus International Festival for Youth Cinema in 1972.

It tells the story of a simple peasant who discovers that the feudal system is an extension of the colonial authority which, throughj its representative, the gendarme, has usurped his land, imprisoned, tortured and insulted him. He runs away from the prison with a rifle, to start his individual bloody struggle against the gendarme and the feudal bands.

» (The Dupes), directed by Tawfik Saleh, adapted from a story by Ghassan Kanafani (Men in the Sun). It won the Best Award of 4th Carthage Film Festival and many other important awards in other different film festivals.

It tells the story of three Palestinians trying to run away from their misery by traveling to Kuwait to find a job, but their journey ends tragically.

» (The Trilogy of Shame), adapted from three short stories by Fateh Al-Mudarres, directed by Bashir Safieh, Wadi' Yousif and Bilal Sabouni.

The film deals with the life and sufferings of poor peasants under the feudal system.

» (Al-Yazirli), directed by Qais Al-Zubaidi, adapted from a story by Hanna Mineh. It shows us specimen of people and their different relations.

It is about a family from which the father is absent, and the eldest daughter has run away. The boy is left to bear the responsibility.

» (The Daily Life in A Syrian Village), in which dramatist Saadallah Wannous cooperated with director Omar Amiralay, and the film is almost a documentary. It tells about the daily life of a village in Al-Jazeerah countryside, uncovering its inhabitants concerns and their view of the world.

» (Kufur Qassem), directed by Burhan Alawiya, which dealt with the massacre perpetrated by the Zionist army against the Palestinian villagers in 1956, as an introduction to the Palestinian cause in whole. The film won the Gold Award of Carthage Film Festival and two other awards.

» Finally, (The Opposite Direction) directed by Marwan Haddad, and deals with the daily suffering of a group of young people, belonging to different social classes, in the period following defeat in the War of June; and how it was reflected in their political and social concerns.

It tells about the feeling of disappointment and fruitlessness. But the film also confirms the positive type whom the defeat did not cause him lose his confidence that it must be surpassed.

It was the first colour film developed and printed in the General Cinema Organization's labs. Formerly, all colour films were developed and printed abroad.

● If we can call the first film- makers: Ayoub Badri, Rashid Jalal, Nazih Al-Shahbandar, Ismail Anzour, Yousif Fahdeh and Zuheir Al-Shawwa as (The First Generation of Pioneers), we may call those who came later and worked within the framework of the General Cinema Organization, e.g. Salah Dihni, Mohammad Shahin, Khaled Hamadeh, Marwan Haddad, Nabil Al-Maleh and others as : (The Second Generation of Pioneers). These are the people who established a real cinematic industry and art.

» (Habibati Ya Hab Al-Tout), directed by Marwan Haddad , adapted from a novel by Ahmad Dawood.

It tells the story of a countryside youth who moves to the city, but cannot stand the city's seductions, so he falls.

» (The Trap), directed by Wadi Yousif, and written by Ali Okla Arsan. It tells about a poor young woman looking for a job to support herself and her sick mother, but she undergoes harsh experiences.

» (Vestiges of Pictures), directed by Nabil Al-Maleh, adapted from a novel by Hanna Mineh. It tells about the life of peasants in the late 1920's and their continuous confrontations with the representatives of the feudal system: the gendarme.

» ( Heroes Are Born Twice), directed by Salah Dihni, which dealt with the Zionist occupation of Palestine from the point of view of a child.

» (The Fifth Castle), directed by Bilal Sabouni, which tells the story of a countryside young man who is imprisoned by mistake among political prisoners, and how his awareness is developing.

● In the 1980's a new blood was infused into the Syrian cinema so that to consolidate and develop the cinematic traditions and accomplishments achieved by the Second Generation of Pioneers.

A group of young men who had finished their study in the cinema institutes of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, returned to their homeland.

After working for some time in the field of short documentaries, they began to direct feature films.

Every one of them had his won distinguished style: from the black comedy of Sami Zekra, to the miniatures of Mohammad Malas; from the bitter satire of Usama Mohammad to the sad comedies of Abdullatif Abdulhamid; from the drastic realism of Raymon Butros and the tragic symbolic lyricism of Maher Kaddo to the deep visual contemplation of the picture by Riad Shia and the causes of women by Waha Al-Raheb.

Styles have been various and numerous, but they gave the Syrian cinema a special flavour and enriched it with more colours and shadows.

There is a common denominator among these directors, i.e. that their films belong to what is called the (the author's film). They write their own scripts.

Another denominator is that most of them have tried to tell in their films their memories and talk about events they knew; they told about the villages or towns from which they came.

Therefore, it is possible to say that we can find in the 1980's and 1990's films an environmental and cultural survey of different parts of Syria.

It is worth mentioning here that many of these films won best awards or other awards in many Arab and international film festivals.

Here under is a review of the most significant films of the 1980's and 1990's:

» (The Half meter Incident) (1980), (The Events of the Coming Year) (1985) and (the Strangers' Dust) by Samir Zekra:

→ The first film is a journey in the life of a petty civil servant of conservative background, whose mind is preoccupied with women. This type is dealt with uncovering all his contradictions, impulses and ambition to go up the ladder, and leave behind the hardships of life and deprivation.

→ The second film tells the problems encountered by a young musician who is trying to establish a classic orchestra, but cannot realize his dream because of many social and administrative obstacles.

→ The third film tells parts of the biography of the Syrian enlightenment thinker Abdulrahman Al-Kawakibi.

→ The first film tells about Damascus in the 1950's and the political changes taking place in the country. It tells about love stories, violent actions, and collapsing dreams; all through the eyes of a child.

→ The second film tells about a son trying to put together the story of what happened to his father, who passed one day Quneitra, the frontier town, on his way to Palestine to fight the Zionists; came back to that town, married there and the died being full of fury.

→ The first film tells with tragic satire about the shattering of a family belonging to the middle class in everything: it is mediocre in everything, in wealth, culture, sympathy and morals. The members of the family try to rejoice, but their attempt is turned into a tragedy.

→ The second film tells about an isolated country family. The grandfather dies without naming his three grandchildren. One of the sons comes back after the defeat of the June War covered with mud. The story is not the most important thing in the film, but the method by which this world is photographed, and the point of view.

» (The Nights of the Jackal) (1989), (Verbal Messages) (1991), (The Ascent of Rain) (1995), (The Breeze of the Soul) (1998), (Two Moons and an Olive) (2001), (Listeners' Choice) (2003) by Abdullatif Abdulhamid:

→ The first, second, fifth and sixth films are soft comedies that tell about the people of the countryside and their small world. They show us the contradictions of their simple lives full of truthfulness and nobility.

→ The third film is an urban comedy telling the story of a writer who is living a state of continuous movement between his real life and his dreams and nightmares; all through a satirical surrealism mixed with subtle winged dreaminess.

→ The fourth film is a fine tragicomedy that is almost a sweet ballad about love and the relations among human beings.

→ The first film shows us a family of five brothers and their conflict about an inherited piece of land.

→ The second one tells us a part of Hama's history, during the period of the coup d'etat by Husni Al-Zaim and the Palestine catastrophe.

→ The first film tells about a family who was forced to leave its town after Israeli forces occupied it in 1967. Twenty years later, they are still yearning to go back to their town. They refuse to forget the past and accommodate with their new status.

→ The second film is about a Syrian village after the French colonialists had pulled out of Syrian territory, and the labour pains that accompanied the independence experience.

» (The Neighing of Directions) (1993) by Maher Kaddo deals , with a symbolic style, with the journey of a girl chasing a band that killed her family and raped her.

» (Al-Lajat) (1995) by Riad Shaya is about this barren basalt land called (Al-Lajat) stretching over the south of Syria.

In the film Al-Lajat is a tragic place in which roam characters that have a yearning for love and freedom.

It is her first film so it is normal that it should deal with the causes of women in our contemporary society. A woman is leaving her home to look for her own self.

● In the 1980's and 1990's, many directors who made films in the 1970's did not direct any new films. But there are some other directors of that generation, the second generation of the pioneers, who are still making films.

» one of these is Mohammad Shahin, who is the most prolific among Syrian film directors. He directed films for both the public and private sectors.

His best film is (The Sun in A Cloudy Day) (1985), adapted from a novel by Hanna Mineh , and tells about a young man living in Syrian port city during the French mandate of Syria. He is an aristocrat but is looking forward to change his life and keep away from the poisonous atmosphere of his family. So he gets involved with the people of a poor alley, and learns much from them.

» Nabil Al-Maleh, directed after a long stop, his film (Comparse) in which he tries to deal with the world of marginal people and their arduous search for love and happiness.

● In 1964, Syria Film Company was established. One of its founders was Mohammad Al-Rawwas, who was a cinematographer and one of those who founded the film industry in Syria.

● The Company tried to make use of the success of the duo: Dureid Lahham and Nihad Qal'ei in their TV sketch (The Pearl Necklace), so this sketch was produced as a colour film.

Yousif Al-Maalouf, an Egyptian film director of Lebanese origin was asked to direct the film in which starred (Sabah) the well- known Lebanese artist.

The film achieved a great success in the box office, and this encouraged further attempts; and so Dureid and Nihad starred in about 13 films in the 1960's.

● The production of the private sector in the 1960's was practically dedicated only to Dureid and Nihad, except for two films: the above- mentioned (The Devil's Game) directed by Zuheir Al-Shawwa, and (The Strangers' Meeting), starring Mariam Fakhereddin and Fahed Ballan.

● Generally speaking, we notice that the majority of the private sector films in the second stage were directed and starred by Egyptian and Lebanese artists.

The private producer rarely risked assigning a Syrian director the duty of directing films, except for few exceptions.

● Among the characteristics of the films produced in that stage is the low level of artistic and intellectual accomplishment and the desire of fast profiting, along with investing as little money as possible.

Furthermore, the private sector failed in that stage, although it was its best, to create any technical basis for a local cinema industry. It depended in its production of films on the technical and artistic services provided by the General Cinema Organization.

● The film makers of the First Generation of Pioneers, classified as private sector representatives, attempted to establish an independent technical and artistic industry. Therefore, they imported the necessary equipment, and some of them even manufactured them locally.

They also tried to depend on national technical experts in full. But the private sector in its second stage, only gave the Syrian cinema goers some bad films.

Nevertheless, we can distinguish a small number of films, among those produced by the private sector, which tried to be relatively acceptable intellectually and artistically speaking, e.g. the later films of Dureid Lahham: (Ghawwar's Empire), (The Borders), (the Report) and (Kafroun) which aimed at using comedy to deal with significant national and social causes. Another film worth mentioning is (The Jungle of Wolves) which tried to reveal the world of contractors, and their sacrificing of all that is humane to earn more money.

● Finally, in the early 1990's, the private sector's production of films stopped for good, and most of its actors resorted to TV production.

There has been no more Syrian cinema except for what is produced by the General Cinema Organization, which is really the only representative of Syrian cinematic art.

● We must refer here to a limited experience in producing feature films by some public sector organizations, but it did not have the chance to continue.

» The Cinema Section in the Political Administration , affiliated to Ministry of Defence, produced one feature film (Up to the Last Man) (1971), directed by Amin Al-Bonni, adapted from ( A Song on the Passage),a play written by Ali Salem. It tells the story of five fighters, whose communication and supply were cut during the war.

» The Syndicate of Artists produced one feature film (Only One man Is Wanted) (1974), directed by Georges Nasser, a Lebanese director.

Many Syrian actors participated in this film, which tells about a peasant family which destiny is controlled by another influential family.

» The Syrian TV produced one feature film as well : (The Circumstances of A Very Ordinary Accident) (1974), directed by Haitham Haqqi, in addition a number of short feature films , such as (The Seesaw) , (The Fire and Water) directed by Haitham Haqqi, (Quneitra 1974) directed by Mohammad Malas, and (The Child & the Sun) directed by Lutfi Lutfi.

● In 1932, when Helios Company was working on the film (Under the Sky of Damascus), there was a talented photographer called Noureddin Ramadan, photographing short films by means of a cinematic camera he bought from a German in Beirut.

Up to 1936, he had recorded a number of national events, such as: the meetings of the first parliament, the return of the Syrian Delegation from Paris, the great demonstrations in Damascus against the French Mandate, the reception of Dr. Abdul-Rahman Al-Shahbandar and Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash, the funeral of the national leader Ibrahim Hanano and other events.

He was harassed by French censorship which used to cut a great part of his films, before allowing them be shown; so he stopped practising this career.

● In 1951, Yousif Fahdah established in Damascus a film lab containing equipment for development, printing and recording.

During the years 1952-1953, he photographed two colour documentary films (16 mm.), about Damascus and Latakia.

In Lebanon, he produced two feature films: (For Whom The Sun Rises) (1958) and (A Stranger in the House) (1960).

When the General Cinema Organization was established, he joined it as an expert in the development and printing lab; and he made some short films.

● In 1956, a Cinema Department was established in the Syrian Army. Since that year, some eminent Syrian film-makers , such as: Rashid Jalal, Ismail Anzour, Mohamd Al-Rawwas, Khaled Hamada, Marwan Haddad and others, have either managed this Department or were employed by it.

It used to produce a newsreel and military training films, as well as a large number of documentaries dealing with military and national subjects.

Yet, the real start of the documentary film in Syria was after the establishment of the General Cinema Organization, on one part, and the Cinema Department in Syrian Arab TV on the other.

● Among the short documentaries produced by the General Cinema Organization, we may mention:

(Water & Dryness) directed by Salah Dihni (1961), (Napalm), directed by Nabil Al-Maleh (1970) (Silver Award of Baghdad Film Festival), (Testimonies of Children in the Time of War), directed by Qais Al-Zubaidi (1972), (In A Popular Quarter) directed by Marwan Haddad (1972) (Jury Award of Moscow Film Festival 1973), (About Her) directed by Samir Zekra (1975), (Wishes) directed by Abdullatif Abdulhamid) (1983), (The Revolution of Sheikh Saleh Al-Ali) directed by Issam Suleiman (1984) (Silver ýAward of Damascus Film Festival), (The Tent) directed by Maher Kaddo (1985), (The Witness) directed by Raymon Butros (1986), (Today & Everyday) directed by Usama Mohammad (1986), (Euphrates Ceremonies) directed by Walid Hreib (1995), (The Judgement Day of A City) directed by Basel Al-Khatib (1995); and a series of films directed by Waid' Yousif about October Liberation War.

● Among the documentaries produced by the Cinema Department in Syrian TV, we may note the following films:

(We Are Alright), directed by Faisal Al-Yasiri (1969) (Silver Award of Leipzig Film Festival), (Away from Homeland) directed by Qais Al-Zubaidi (1969), (An attempt about the Euphrates Dam) directed by Omar Amiralay (1970) (Award of Leipzig Film Festival), (The Memory), directed by Mohammad Malas (1977), (Palestine the Roots) directed by Amin Al-Bonni (1980) (Award of Baghdad Film Festival 1980), (The Rural Woman) directed by Mamoun Al-Bonni (Gold Award of Damascus Film Festival 1981) and (Damascus, A Distance for Vision) directed by Himd Midani (1986).

● We can also note the series of ( A Homeland Memoirs) by Amin Al-Bonni (1984-1987) which tried to document the history of Syrian and other eastern Arab countries starting with the mid 19th Century.

● The private sector did not produce documentaries except for two films (The Road to Peace) directed by Amin Al-Bonni, produced by Abdulrazzak Al-Ghanem and (The Dream) directed by Mohammad Malas, produced by Maram Company.

● Syrian only began to produce this type of films in the late 1980's, when Nizar Ghazi and Samir Jaber made their film (A Traffic Signal) (1979) for the Syrian TV.

Then, no cartoons were produced until the early 1990's, when the General Cinema Organization planned to produce such films.

two films directed by Mouaffaq Qat (A Cuneiform Tale) (Award of Arab Film Critics and Jury Special Award of Damascus Film Festival 1991), and (One Thousand and One Pictures) (First Award of Cairo Film Festival for Children Cinema,1996, and the bronze Award in Carthage Film Festival) and the Golden Award of Plastic Arts Festival in Tunis); (He and She) directed by Nasser Naasani (Gold Award of Damascus Film Festival 1995), and his (The Baton) (1994), as well as the two films directed by Abdul-Mouein Oyoun Al-Soud : (Veto) (1991) and (Pardon Me, Mr.X) (1993).

● In 1979, the first session of Damascus Film Festival was held; since its establishment it has pursued the following objectives:

- To develop the Arab national cinema and promote it, supporting the trend of youth cinema which adhered to the reality of the masses, and expressed their basic causes and aspirations.

- To support the serious trends in Asian and Latin American cinema, and the Third World cinema in general, and to introduce same to the Syrian audience.

- To create a relationship between cinema and film-makers on one part, and the audience on the other part.

- To build cultural and intellectual bridges between Arab film-makers on one part and film-makers of the Third World countries and the world at large, on the other part.

- To carry out cultural, artistic and educational missions and participate in spreading cinematic culture.

● The activities of Damascus Film Festival include a competition for feature films, another for short films of all types, information film shows, and other sections dedicated to certain cinematic trends and schools.

» In 1955, a film festival was organized in Damascus within the framework of Damascus International Fair, in which participated USA, French, Italian and Egyptian films. But those were not of any artistic significance but made for the purpose of profiting.

» Next year, 1956, another session of that festival was organized, but the films were of different artistic and intellectual level. Unfortunately, this festival did not last, due to a conflict that arose between its organizers and Damascus International Fair's administration.

» In 1972, the General Cinema Organization held a festival called (Damascus International Festival for Youth Cinema) which is regarded by critics and film-makers as being a new start in the history of the Arabic cinema, renewing its view of the cinematic art, its relation with the reality it was observing and the methods of dealing with this reality.

Unfortunately, this Festival was suspended; and we had to wait seven years to witness the establishment of Damascus Film Festival which is still going on up to this time, once every two years.

It had learned the lessons of the former festivals, and is trying to develop its tools and system from one session to another.

→ It is noteworthy here to say that this festival was turned, in its 12th session in 2001 from a regional festival (for Asia, Latin America and the Arab Countries ), into an international festival with doors open to all countries of the world.

→ We would like here to quote what the Latin American film director Miguel Litin, who headed the Jury in the 9th session in 1995 said about this Festival: (It is absolutely one of the most important film festivals in the Third World).

This Law was issued to save the cinema goers from that flood of trivial commercial films which the private sector representatives were importing, regardless of their artistic and intellectual level or the values they were propagating; as long as they earned them high profits.

● Furthermore, the monopoly of importing films has provided the General Cinema Organization with a margin of profits that enabled it to develop its production and support the creative experiments of young film directors; taking into account that the Organization does not depend on the returns of the films produced by it, because it had an objective, since its establishment, to perform an artistic and cultural message that no other cinematic body can perform.

After importing the films, these were offered to the distributors and theatre proprietors for sale. In many occasions, distributors abstained from buying films of pure artistic value, so the Organization showed these films in its theatres, in spite of the losses incurred.

● Nevertheless, with the fallback in the Syrian cinema market, and with the aim of encouraging distributors and theatre proprietors to develop their business, the monopoly was recently cancelled, and distributors are free now to import any films they want.

● In 1978, the first issue of the quarterly review (Cinematic Life) was published by Ministry of Culture.

It is almost the only academic review specialized in the cinematic art in the whole Arab World.

● Since its first issue, Cinematic Life has been documenting the history and the developments in the Syrian cinema, and following up the local film production. Furthermore, it provides the reader with information about the new developments in the Arabic and international cinema.

● The General Cinema Organization issues, a series of books called (The 7th Art) dedicated to theoretical cinema matters and memoirs of eminent international film-makers.

The memoirs of Bunuel, Kirosawa and Bergman were issued within this series, as well as some cinematic contemplations by Tarkosvsky , Andrej Wajda , Satyajit Ray, Fellini, Ilya Kazan and others.

Furthermore, other books of this series deal also with the various aspects of film industry, such as script, direction, music, etc.

● Recently, a new cinematic series has been issued (Cinematic Studies & Documents), dedicated to publish the critical and search contributions by Syrian and Arab critics and researches in general.

● The laying of the cornerstone of the Cinema City is a significant step on the road of developing the cinematic industry in Syria.

This step has given the chance to provide all necessary requisites for a full film industry by Syrian hands.

The modernization of the Organization's equipment provided the Syrian cinema with the means to be in continuous contact with the latest accomplishments in cinematic techniques.

On the other part, this provided the General Cinema Organization with the ability to meet the requirements of the private producers for making their films.

● It is noteworthy that the General Cinema Organization has been and is still providing many services and facilities for the private film production, at prices that are almost symbolic.

● In 1987, (The 7th Day) review, issued in Paris made a poll among a large number of film-makers in the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first Arabic feature film, about the best 10 films ever produced by the Arabic cinema.

» Among the ten films chosen were three Syrian films produced by the General Cinema Organization :

→This would certainly mean that the Syrian cinema, in spite of the few films it has produced, relatively speaking, has developed under the auspices of the General Cinema Organization and the Ministry of Culture in general, has become rich in experience, and has continued to go on searching for its own voice, in a world that does not care about imitating and repetitive voices.

→ The Syrian cinema is no more a baby, as it has gained its distinguished presence in the Arab and international festivals.

Nevertheless, the Syrian film-makers are aware that the road is still long to reach what they aspire to: a better performance, and films that are more developed and enjoy a higher level, technically, artistically and intellectually.