He is the Palestinian writer Hani Al-Sa’adi, who treated the Palestinian issue allegorically in his works: “Al-Burkan” (The Volcano), “Al-Fawaris” (The Horsemen), “Al-Mawt Al-Qadim min Al-Sharq” (Death coming from the East), and his more important work, which has yet to see the light, the series; “Safar Al-Hijara” (Journey of Stones), which relates the story of Palestinian families living in East Jerusalem and Damascus - he wrote this five years ago, and to this moment no Arab channel has had the courage to produce it.
On the experience of Hani Al-Sa’adi, and on fantasy in Syrian drama, was our following contemplation:
*What was the beginning of your experience, and what where the stages that passed until it matured and you reached what you are now?
** Hani Al-Sa’adi’s experience is long and bitter; I am from a poor family that was displaced from Palestine in 1948 to Damascus. I was still in my mother’s womb when that happened, and I was born in 1949 in a mosque called Al-Bukhari in the area of Ain El-Kerash of Damascus. My father worked as a street seller of fruit and vegetables, and from a small age, I used to sell with him. We used to go around the streets on a four-wheel cart. Then I went to schools and learnt. I was very interested in writing from a young age, and in primary and secondary, there were attempts in poetry, parables, and theatre. All were failed attempts, because they were not based on a firm foundation. When I gained my baccalaureate, I went to teacher training college, and was appointed a schoolteacher in Damascus. I still persevered in writing, but as a hobby throughout my education.
In 1975, a strong feeling stirred within me, that I could be an actor, so I made a personal effort and entered the Actors’ Syndicate, they tested me and I passed the examination and became an actor. I started to act in television and cinema, yet writing was within me, accompanying me. Little by little, I started to write for radio, and the first film I wrote for cinema was in 1978, “Lail Ar-Rijaal” (Night of the Men) starring Fareed Shawqi, and Nahid Shareef, and directed by Hasan Al-Saify. After that I settled in writing for television, and the first television work I wrote was “Hara Nasiyaha Al-Zamaan” (A Neighbourhood, Time Forgot) in 1984, after which my other works followed.
* Writing is an expression of people’s preoccupations and their problems, as a Palestinian writer, where has the Palestinian cause manifested in your writings? And to what extent can the writer overcome the limits drawn in order to get his message to the viewer?
** The writer has all the resources, but he stands at the limits drawn by the censorship, which allows this and disallows that. At that point, the writer’s licence ends. For example, the problem of marital infidelity, considered a social plague and disease, and is with us whether we accept that or not. The censorship does not agree to this issue being dealt with, except using guile and in a roundabout way. I cannot be frank with the viewer and convince him, if I do not enter directly and say this is your pain. I cannot say that the policeman takes bribes, because his pay is low - although this is a reality.
I have treated the Palestinian issue in my writings within the bounds allowed. I wrote about the Palestinian cause in the series “Al-Burkan” (The Volcano), and in “Al-Fawaris” (The Horsemen) directed by Muhammad Aziziyah, and also in “Al-Mawt Al-Qadim min Al-Sharq” (Death coming from the East), but in symbolic form, because the Arab channels do not allow you to say everything, so long as some sort of peace may be made with the Zionist enemy. Five years ago, the idea that they do not want peace has accumulated in me, and that they were manoeuvring and deceiving the peoples. This was confirmed during the government of Sharon. The Arab World including the rulers have had it clearly confirmed that the Israelis do not have a peace plan, rather they are delaying and procrastinating so as to gain what they want. I said to myself this is my chance now, as a Palestinian to write about my homeland Palestine, so long as the situation had been uncovered, and Israel does not want peace. So I wrote the series for TV “Safar Al-Hijara” (Journey of Stones), which is a work dealing with the blessed Al-Aqsa Intifadah from its principal stages and before September 11th by two months, up to September 11th and before the convening of the Arab Summit in Beirut. I examined this period dramatically, away from the slogans and the Intifadah, and picturing the children dying in Palestine. It is narrates the heroic feat of a people, depicted in the stories of Palestinian families living in East Jerusalem and in Damascus. Sadly, no Arab channel would dare buy it, even though the intentions of Israel and America were unmasked, and that they are anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian, yet no producer dared produce such a work because there are orders from America not to be involved with such works dealing with the Palestinians. Quite frankly, this is how things go, and the work is still fallen by the wayside.
Now there is an idea, where the Palestinians from inside the occupied territories will produce it, and I do not know whether Israel will allow them to.
*You are considered the first who has innovated fantasy in Syrian drama, what is the relationship of fantasy with history?
** I take from history the historical grounding and the period. I do not take up the story of the personalities present in that era, meaning I invent a story, but it lives in that period of time, in that land. I fabricate a story from imagination that the viewer believes, and feels has happened or could happen. I wrote “Ghadab Al-Sahraa” (Anger of the Desert) and “Al-Burkan”, two works that were well received by people, because they felt they had a relationship with this history.
*In the series (Al-Jawarih, Al-Bawasil, Al-Kawasir), do you not see a sort of strangeness bred into the viewer?
** There was a type of strangeness felt by the viewer, because it is an Arab tale that can be believed, but the location, and method of photography were not right. The Arabs did not live in tents next to lakes. If there are lakes then that means there must be homes built of wood or brick, and there must be agriculture. At that time there were no fireworks fired into the sky, or phosphoric colours, or spices that we now know in our present. These were matters invented by Najdat Inzuur in his direction of these works - meaning Najdat Inzuur’s director’s vision of these works. Sure, it caused a measure of strangeness in some people, but many loved these works, which gave a highly visual experience while preserving the story.
*You create a story from imagination, does that mean an escape from reality, and from our Arab and national issues, and if not then what are its reflections on reality?
** Fantasy as a definition is something that is not subject to reality, it is above reality, and the writer or director can be carried by their imagination without being chained to something logical in real life, generally. However, when you go into the very heart of the story, and its details you discover that it is close to reality, even though it is a product of imagination, and doesn’t depend on time or place.
As for reflections, these always come according to the nature of the story. Does the story allow that we reflect upon it a nationalist flavour, something political related to our current state or not. In the series “Al-Burkan”, there was a possibility, as the Arab states were scattered, as were the Arab tribes in antiquity. I tried in “Al-Burkan” to call for the unity of the Arab tribes, which practically is the unity of modern states to confront this imperialist onslaught, which is American and Zionist at the same time. There was an invitation to face it, especially in our present situation. We as Arabs have a very important weapon, oil, and a massive number of people, which we have not used till now.
* Last year, you moved away from fantasy in favour of contemporary social drama in the series “Abnaa’ Al-Qahr” (Sons of the Oppression), was it a wave and now extinguished? Have you used up the popular aim of its existence? What is the cause of this retreat?
** My retreat from fantasy, started with the series “Al-Bawasil”, when I felt that the series had lost its truthfullness, as a result of the cutting out of two hundred and fifty-eight scenes. There ceased to be a link between it and the viewer. I decided to end these types of work with Najdat Inzuur, because I discovered after the work was screened for the first time that he had cut its throat from ear to ear. I judged that people would not like it, and that they would find in it deep gaps, so I decided to stop writing all works that are related to fantasy, and turn to social drama as a result of my let down in “Al-Bawasil”, followed by another more severe blow at the end of “Al-Fursan”. So I was sure that I would not write fantasy after that.
*What about “Siraa’ Al-Ashawis” (Conflict of the Strong), the work that is being filmed now?
** I wrote “Siraa’ Al-Ashawis” in 1995, and it was sold to a company called “Al-‘Anqaa”. However, the partners disagreed and dissolved the company, selling the work to “Amwaj Al-Khaleej” that appointed the director, Adnan Ibrahim, to direct it. As result of differences and disagreements amongst them, work stopped. Six months ago, it was bought by Rasheed ‘Asaaf, so as to produce it, which he is doing now with a company called Drama International, and directed by Salem Al-Kurdi.
*Are there any other works for the coming Ramadan season?
** The first work, in which filming has been completed was “’Asr Al-Junoon” (Time of Madness), directed by Marwan Barakat, and produced by Arab, the company. This is a social drama close to the ambience of “Abnaa’ Al-Qahr”, in terms of its treatment of problems of the youth, and the present times. It contains a discussion of the life of male and female teenagers in secondary and higher secondary, in addition to a discussion of the problem of drugs from a viewpoint that is worthy of being looked at. The star of this series is Bassam Kosa, and is the only Hashish user in it. In addition to the lines of enquiry I mentioned in this work, I also dealt with the line of the Mafia coming from the West.
There is another work, “Qatl Ar-Rabee’” (Killing of the Spring), also a treatment of different social problems of different families. What I mean by spring is hope, life and ambition, and how spring is killed in our society. This work is directed and produced by Yousif Rizq.
