Liwaa Yazji

Liwaa Yazji

Liwaa Yazji (Liwaa Yazaji) لواء يازجي is a Syrian Filmmaker, Playwright, TV Screenwriter, Dramaturge and Poet.

Early life and education

Born in Moscow Russia 18 June 1977 to Syrian parents; Haidar Yazji حيدرر يازجي and Salwa Abdullah. Her father Haidar Yazaji (1946-2014) was a fine artist. Her mother Salwa Abdulla (سلوى عبدالله(1953- is a gynecologist. Liwaa Yazji spent her early childhood years in Moscow where her parents were finishing their studies. She went back to Syria in the early 80s and stayed in the city of Aleppo for some years before her parents moved to Damascus where she finished her elementary, preparatory and secondary school. She studied English Literature in Damascus University for Letters (1995-1998), and did her Post Graduate Diploma in Literary Studies (1998-1999). From (1999-2003) she studied Theater Studies in the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts in Damascus.

Career

From 2003 she worked as a dramaturge and assistant director in several theater projects in Damascus. In 2007 she started working in the General Committee of 2008 Arab Capital of Culture - Damascus, she was in charge of programming Syrian theater and dance performances for the year's repertoire. She was then more involved in creative writing projects for theater and TV, she worked as well as a script doctor for several pan Arab production companies before she was an assistant director in the film Windows to the Soul- A Story about Syria نوافذ الروح- حكاية سوريا" 2010-2011". When the revolution broke in Syria 2011 she started working on her first feature documentary Haunted.^[1] The film was released in 2014. She initially moved to live in Lebanon and then moved to Berlin in 2016. Since 2012 Liwaa Yazji is a board member of the non-profit Ettijahat- Independent Culture.^[2]

Works

Here in the Garden

This is the first play, it was published in May 2012 although it was written between 2007 and 2009 by Mamdouh Adwan House for Publishing and distribution- Damascus, Syria.

Peacefully We Leave Home

A poetry collection published in 2014 in Beirut- Lebanon by Arab Scientific Publishers الدار العربية للعلوم ناشرون. The poems in this collection were written on a span of several years before the publishing.

The Brothers الإخوة ^[3]

A Soap Opera written by Liwaa Yazji and Mohammad Abou Laban. Broadcast Premier in 2014 in Abou Dhabi TV Channel and then distributed all over pan Arab channels.

Haunted (Maskoon)

A feature Documentary Liwaa Yazji produced and directed, the film was released in 2014. The production was supported by a fund from Heinrich Boell fund, MENA. It won the Mention Special in its premier in FID Marseille Festival of Documentary Film 2014 and AL Waha Bronz in FIFAG- Tunisia 2016.^[4] The film toured international festivals and had cinema releases. MEC is the distributor for the film.^[5]

A Translation of "Saved (play)" by Edward Bond

With an interesting introduction to Bond`s thoughts on violence, Yazji translated the play into Arabic and published in 2015 in Mamdouh Adwan House for Publishing and Distribution.

Goats

A play developed in the International Playwright Program with the Royal Court Theatre- London.The play had a staged reading in the event "Told From the Inside" in the Royal Court Theatre in 2016. The play premiered in the Royal Court Theatre- London in December 2017.

Q & Q

A play in the Birth Debate Project, commissioned by the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. The play had a staged reading in the Birth Festival in 2016.

Three Poems

A translation of three poems from her collection "Peacefully, We Leave Home" were published in English by CEC ArtsLink and The Segal Theater in New York, 2017 after the residency she had at the Poets House in New York as well.

References