Nablus – Wearing his old military uniform that is consistent with the event in its time, place and nature, Palestinian artist Amjad Ghanem excelled while performing his role as an English officer heading a police station, in a dramatic scene in the series "um Al-Yasmin", which is in the final stages of filming to be the first dramatic work about the city of Nablus.

In a house belonging to the ancient Al-Amad family in Nablus, one of the eight families mentioned in the series, Ghanem and the team of "um Al-Yasmin" are racing against time to complete the series, which extends over 8 episodes and is 29 minutes per episode.

Directed by Palestinian Bashar al-Najjar, the series revolves around the city of Nablus between 1929 and 1935, starting from the Buraq revolution in Jerusalem, and reviewing the social and cultural environment of Nablus, the city's customs, traditions, foods and distinctive accent.

Part of the filming of one of the scenes of the series "um Al-Yasmin" (Al-Jazeera)

The series is concerned with the line of the revolutionary struggle of Nablus as an integral part of the Palestinian resistance society, and stops at the beginning of the events of the Palestinian revolution in 1936 in preparation for a second part, which is prepared and ends with the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, and how Nablus contributed to receiving the displaced and opening its offices, mosques and public baths for them.

He set out from Jerusalem and told Nablus

The name "um al-Yasmin" was chosen to be dedicated to a new nickname for the city, which is also called "Jabal al-Nar" and "Little Damascus", in addition to the fact that al-Yasmina is one of the six lanes of her old town, which embraced with the smell of jasmine the fragrance of the past and its revolution.

Many details came together in "um Al-Yasmin" to present a real and credible Nablus environment, in the first dramatic work that directly touches a Palestinian city, and its events are sequenced around a specific story, so the texts were selected from books and the transmitted novel accurately and literally, and this craftsmanship was reflected in the text on the entire work team, including actors, photographers and production crew.

But why did Jerusalem become a gateway to the series that explores Nablus and its story? Director Bashar Al-Najjar answers – Al Jazeera Net – that "the Buraq revolution is a pivotal event in the history of the Palestinian cause, and this coincided with an important event experienced by Nablus, which is the revival of the Prophet's birthday, which turned into a broad support for Jerusalem. Nablus was the first Palestinian city to protest the Balfour Declaration and the execution of the three revolutionaries: Fouad Hijazi, Atta al-Zeer and Muhammad Jamjoom, declared mourning, closed its central market and raised black flags over its shops."

Individual production

The importance and strength of the work, in addition to its subject matter and the narrative of its enjoyable events, lies in its crew of 83 people, including 56 artists, hundreds of secondary participations (compares), in addition to the location and crew, which reflected on the quality of the image and the strength of production.

Taher Bakir is the writer of the story of the series "um Al-Yasmin" (Al-Jazeera)

All this is in the face of an "individual production" of the series, according to Al-Najjar, who was forced to sell his own vehicle at the beginning of the work, and says that the employers faced great financial scarcity, as no party embraced the project, and the broadcaster who will display the work has not yet been decided.

Al-Najjar, who began his directing career in 2013 and produced several works "Awlad Al-Mukhtar", "Kafr Al-Louz" and "Al-Ajrab", believes that financial challenges were not the only problem facing those in charge of the work, pointing to Israeli incitement and events in the West Bank that endangered the lives of artists during work and during their travels, in addition to the long working hours and the dispersion of filming locations because of the inability to build one place for that, as filming focused more on Nablus, its old town and the village of Abwein near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"um al-Yasmin" blocks and blocks all suspicious and naturalistic non-Palestinian works, with conditional funding, and the authors of the work, who refused to be dependent on any agendas, say that they have artists who carry a national faith and translate it into reality with a work that consolidates the Palestinian reality and counters the Israeli narrative.

Formal negligence and negligence

Al-Najjar denies that the Palestinian government, especially the Ministry of Culture, does not support his cultural resistance work, and in return calls on it to impose restrictions and control on any work with agendas or conditional funding.

Al-Najjar considers the indifference of Palestinian official institutions as a reason for the absence of strong Palestinian dramas, and says that they as artists and directors are constantly evolving, and that what is stagnant are ideas and production culture, and refuses to describe his series as "local production", and considers this an "abuse", and says, "um Al-Yasmin is an Arab production, and we have competencies that compete with Arab stars."

This is confirmed by Younis Hassaneh, the executive producer of the series, who ventured with his latest equipment to produce a distinctive work due to his belief in the idea and its importance in Palestine in all its dimensions, historically and politically.

Despite the production of many works, the Hassana did not see a dramatic work strongly "um al-Yasmin", and says to Al Jazeera Net "It is a strong start for the Palestinian drama again," and adds that the team coming from most cities of the West Bank is working beehive to make it a success, filming is going in parallel with the montage, and extends between 15 and 36 hours sometimes.

Director Bashar Al-Najjar (right) with a team at um Al-Yasmin (Al Jazeera)

Nablus is bigger than a series

Despite the series' embodiment of a pure Nablus environment, and its story of the city's events with its history, civilization and culture, the Palestinian artist Osama Malhas says that Nablus "is not summarized in a series," and adds, "The work will surprise everyone with its strength and similarity and the Levantine environment closest to the city. Most importantly, Malhas, who plays the role of "Abu Akram" entrusted to him by the management of Sabana (Nabulsi soap factory), his wife, adds that the reality is very similar to what came in the series, indicating that they relied on confident people to collect and verify information, even with regard to the Nablus accent and pronunciation.

Malhas believes that many dramas were prepared in and about Nablus, adding that Fadwa Toukan's series, for example, talked about her as a poet and about her environment and surroundings, but it is not with the strength, content and production of "um al-Yasmin."

Al-Hassana, executive producer of the drama "um Al-Yasmin" (Al-Jazeera)

It seems that "um al-Yasmin" wanted Nablus to recover some of its heritage, customs and vocabulary as a city with its heritage of struggle and civilization, after it was "marginalized" throughout history, according to Taher Bakir, artist and writer of the story of the series "um al-Yasmin", who expresses his hope that the new work will suit Nablus and its legacy of struggle and civilization.

Director Bashar al-Najjar hopes to present his series in the month of Ramadan, although no one has adopted it, and this, in Najjar's opinion, does not fault the work, which considers that "its capital is its team, its national belief and their intellectual freedom," and adds that "the channel that does not want us does not want it, and just as filming did not hinder us, it will not hinder us from publishing the series."