Syrian TV series film at feared security sites like Mazzeh air base and Palestine Branch, depicting the final months of Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
DAMASCUS: A Damascus air base once synonymous with the feared security apparatus of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad is now a film set for a new television drama.
Director Mohamad Abdul Aziz is filming “The King’s Family” at the Mazzeh base, a former detention centre run by Assad’s air force intelligence.
“It’s hard to believe we’re filming here,” Abdul Aziz told AFP from the site in the capital’s southwestern suburbs.
The location “used to be a symbol of military power,” he said, adding “now we are making a show about the fall of that power.”
The series depicts the final months of Assad’s rule through the eyes of a Syrian family.
Assad fled to Russia last December as an Islamist-led offensive closed in on Damascus, ending nearly 14 years of civil war and half a century of dynastic rule.
The production is also filming inside the former military intelligence facility known as Palestine Branch.
“Palestine Branch was one of the pillars of the security apparatus — just mentioning its name caused terror,” Abdul Aziz said of the site known for torture and abuse.
The crew is recreating scenes depicting the collapse of the security services and the release of detainees.
Thousands of prisoners were freed when jails were thrown open as Assad fell last year.
The series will also feature Assad’s stormed and looted high-security residence in Damascus’s upscale Malki district.
Abdul Aziz filmed a large fight scene with over 150 people in front of the residence, stating “this was impossible to do before.”
Scriptwriter Maan Sakbani expressed cautious relief that the days of full-blown censorship under Assad were over.
The new authorities’ information ministry still reviews scripts, but Sakbani said comments on their series were very minor.
He remains uncertain how long the relative creative freedom will last.
“The King’s Family” is scheduled to air in February during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, prime-time viewing in the Arab world.
Several other series inspired by the Assad era are also planned for release.
“Enemy Syrians” depicts citizens living under the surveillance of the security services.
Another series, “Going Out to the Well”, is about deadly prison riots in the infamous Saydnaya facility in 2008.
Rights group Amnesty International had called Saydnaya a “human slaughterhouse”.
Director Mohammed Lutfi said the new authorities welcomed the project and provided logistical support to film inside the actual prison.
This will allow the team “to convey the prisoners’ suffering and the regime’s practices — from the inside the actual location,” Lutfi said.
Dozens of show-business figures opposed to Assad have returned to Syria since his ouster, boosting the local industry.
