Acting
Mar 10, 1941
Acre, Israel
Youssef Hanna
Acting
Biography
Youssef Hanna was a Palestinian-Syrian actor and one of the leading founders of the Palestinian National Theater in Damascus during the mid-20th century. He remains one of the most memorable faces of Syrian television, having performed numerous distinguished roles in Syrian drama from its earliest years. His career developed alongside the Syrian television industry itself, allowing him to witness and participate in its growth into artistic maturity. Hanna was born in Acre, Palestine, on March 21, 1941. He was the nephew of poet Nicola Hanna, the brother of writer Amal Hanna, and the cousin of actor Rami Hanna and writer Reem Hanna. He worked extensively in theater and appeared in several Syrian films, as well as a number of Egyptian-Syrian co-productions. Arab audiences particularly remember his notable performance alongside Duraid Lahham in the play Shaqaiq al-Nu‘man, as well as his acclaimed role in Haitham Hakki’s television series Al-Dughri. The latter showcased his acting abilities and his talent for combining emotional authenticity with strong dramatic performance. Youssef Hanna was among the Palestinian and Syrian artists who began acting during a period when the profession was still largely practiced on an amateur basis, before continuing it as a full-time career. He remained deeply connected to the arts until his death and continued to aspire to take part in new productions.
Feature Films (6)
Three Palestinian men strive to escape the hardships of life in a refugee camp. Under the scorching sun, the men enlist the help of an old man, Abu Al-Khaizuran, to smuggle them in an empty water tank across the desert.
Men Under the Sun
After the 1967 setback, Abu Ramzi is displaced from the Golan with his family, and he is tired in order to secure a livelihood and his wife who works in sewing helps him. As for the son Ramzi, he dreams of riches quickly and in the easiest way, which drives him to collide with his father, who dreams of a roof that shelter him through halal earnings.
Something Is Burning
An anthology film that features three stories about the suffering of the people of the Syrian countryside in the time of feudalism; the first is about a poor peasant who falls victim to an agent of feudalism, the second is about a little girl, who has to get medicine for her feverish mother. As for the third story, it depicts the tools of feudalism in wresting the land from the peasants.
Shame: A Trilogy
An oneiric film poem about a murder in occupied Palestine, in which Qais Al-Zubaidi used drawing, poetry, music, phonograph and pantomime with his technical virtuosity and formal expressionism. Featuring poetry from Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim, and Tawfiq Ziad.
The Visit
A newly graduated young doctor has hopes of making his way steadily in his country, or of traveling to another country in order to achieve his dreams. In the village, he wakes up from his rosy dream he lived before he traveled to a harsh reality, after he is accused of murder.
Another Face of Love
The film follows three Palestinian refugees brought together by dispossession and hope for a better future. Hiding in the tank of a truck, the men attempt to make their way across the border into Kuwait, the "promised land."
The Dupes
Television & Series (3)
A historical series that reviews the life of the martyr Izz al -Din al -Qassam, and its transition from Syria to Palestine to escape the death sentence issued by the French, to establish the resistance in Palestine against the British occupation.
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
AlDaghari is a Syrian social comedy series, based on the story of Turkish writer Aziz Nesin, produced by Syrian Arab Television in 1992, directed by Haitham Haqqi. It tells the story of a fraudulent person who exploits the gullibility of the villagers.
Aldighri
When businessman Hosni suddenly vanishes following a bitter dispute with his brother over a piece of family land, Majors Osama and Adham are assigned to investigate his disappearance. What begins as a missing-person case soon draws the two investigators into a tangled web of family feuds, troubled relationships, shady business deals, and connections to gambling and smuggling. As they question Hosni's relatives, friends, and employees, conflicting accounts and suspicious behavior reveal just how complicated his life had become. With a growing list of suspects and no shortage of possible motives, the investigators must piece together the truth about a man whose disappearance has brought years of secrets and buried resentments to the surface.