Najdat Ismail Anzour (born November 26, 1954) is a Syrian television director of Circassian origins.

Biography

His father Ismail Anzour was the director of Taht sama'a Dimashq (translates to : Under Damascus Skies), Syria's first silent film, in 1932. Anzour graduated as a mechanical engineer, but credits his father with encouraging him to direct films. Najdat created TV ads (numbering over 1,000), and later went into TV series, then films. On 6 June 2016, Anzour was elected as Deputy Speaker of the Syrian Parliament together with Syria's first female Speaker of parliament, Hadiya Khalaf Abbas, Ph.D., who was elected by the People's Assembly to head the parliament. On 21 July 2017, Najdat was appointed as an interim Speaker of the Syrian parliament.

Television series

Anzour directed over 20 TV series with a distinctive style. They are mostly set in an ancient era, in the Arabian desert or oases. The series has more realistic fighting scenes and much night shooting. They often tell the story of tribal conflicts, honor, romance, etc. Normally, his work is aired in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, where TV viewing is at its peak in the Arab world.

Films

Some of his recent films are aired by the Dubai based Middle East Broadcasting Corporation and aim to end the terrorism committed by Muslim extremists. Although his work is supported by many Muslims, others object to his vilification of terrorist actions.

Future films

Oppression: Years of Torment (Arabic:الظلم : سنوات العذاب) is film whose production was due to start in 2008. The film is about the Libyan national hero Omar Al-Mokhtar, was written by Muammar Gaddafi, and was announced to be directed by Anzour. High-profile actors including Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Spacey and Ben Kingsley have been courted, albeit without any current confirmation. At first Omar Sharif had been also announced to be in the cast playing Omar Al-Mokhtar. However, he withdrew later stating that he had other engagements as a pretext. The shooting of the film was announced to start on the Italian Tremiti islands on 14 April 2008 for 6 days , which is the same islands many Libyans where deported to during the Italian occupation of Libya. There are no recent indications, however, that filming ever commenced, and it appears that the project may be on hold.