Naila Al Atrash

Naila Al Atrash is a Syrian director, academic and actress in film, television and theater.

She has directed over forty major productions in the Arab World, Europe, Africa and US. She received the best actress award at the Carthage Film Festival for her leading role in Chronicle of the Coming Year. Her work was seen to encourage the public to think in ways that challenged the teachings of the Assad regime, and she left Syria in 2012. claiming that this is when she started her membership in the communist party. Here, she ran into a direct conflict with her upper-class background. This conflict can be seen as a strong influence in her choices as a director. During her time in the communist party, she began to show interest in political, social, and justice issues, shaping her world view from a young age.

Al Atrash also points to her grandfather, Sultan al-Atrash, as a source of inspiration for her work. He also campaigned for a unified Arab army in order to prevent the establishment of Israel in 1948.

Education Naila Al Atrash graduated from Bulgaria's High Institute of Dramatic Arts (HIDA) in 1978. She went on to receive her MFA in directing and acting from National Academy of Theatre and Film in Sofia, Bulgaria. At HIDA, Al Atrash directed a show titled "Fire and Olives" by the Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag. This play examined the relationship between Palestinean Jews and Muslims, and how this relationship changed Israel's creation in 1948. It tells the love story of two Palestinians, one an Israelis officer and the other a liberation fighter. Al Atrash said that this play formed a turning point in her relationship with her Bulgarian colleagues. After her graduation, Al Atrash went back to Damascus, Syria's capital. Al Atrash's home was an important part of her life; Syria was where all of her loved ones resided and she felt a need to be there despite the country's increasing instability. She left Syria in August 2012 when she received a job opportunity in New York University. In 2019, she was a Vivian G Prins Scholar at NYU's Department of Drama, teaching Syrian theater and file, and directing plays with ETW/Tisch School of Arts. She received the best actress award at the Carthage Film Festival for her leading role in Chronicle of the Coming Year.

Publications

Sana Mustafa, Naila Al Atrash, & Radwan Ziadeh, We Are Syrians, 2017 ISBN 9781608011339.