Mohammad Malas

Mohammad Malas (; born 1945) is a prominent Syrian filmmaker. Malas directed several documentary and feature films that garnered international recognition. He is among the first auteur filmmakers in Syrian cinema.

Early life Malas was born in Quneitra on the Golan Heights. He worked as a school teacher between 1965 and 1968 before moving to Moscow to study filmmaking at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). During his time at VGIK Malas directed several short films. After his return to Syria he started working at the Syrian Television. Along with Omar Amiralay he co-founded the Damascus Cinema Club. He interviewed refugees on their dreams, living alongside them in camps. He edited and released the film in 1987. In 1990 Malas shot Nur wa Zilal ("Chiaroscuro"), a documentary film about Nazih Shahbandar whom he described as "Syria's first filmmaker."

Malas's second feature film, al-Lail , was realized in 1992. The autobiographical film was set in Quneitra in the years between 1936 and the Arab–Israeli War of 1948. It forms, along with Ahlam al-Madina, the first and second parts of an unfinished trilogy project of Malas's. Al-Lail received international recognition and won first prize at the 1992 Carthage Film Festival. However, the film was banned in Syria and was only screened for the first time in 1996.

Filmography A Dream of a Small City (1970) Quneitra 74 (1974) The Memory (1977) Dreams of the City (1983) The Dream (1987) Chiaroscuro (1990) The Night (1992) Moudaress (1996) Passion (2005) Ladder to Damascus (2013)