Personal Info
- Country of residence: Portugal
Information
Zuhair Muhammad Asaad Al-Afranji was born in Gaza City on November 18, 1985, to a refugee family originally from the occupied city of Jaffa. He is married and has three sons and two daughters. He completed his primary education at Gaza and Al-Zaytoun schools, and his secondary education at the School for Gifted Students, from which he obtained his high school diploma in the science track in 2003. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the Islamic University of Gaza in 2007. He completed a course in media management (Beirut, 2013), and another course in screenwriting and dramatic directing (Beirut, 2013). He received a diploma in administrative and cultural work in drama and culture from the Ibdaa Foundation in Gaza City in 2016, and a master's degree in management from the Academy of Management and Politics for Graduate Studies in Gaza in 2017. He worked as a language editor at Al-Aqsa TV in 2007, then as an employee in the channel's quality department, then as director of the administrative affairs department, and then as director of the artistic production department since 2012.
Al-Afranji supervised the production of a number of documentaries about the effects of the occupation wars on the Gaza Strip, in addition to producing a group of artistic and dramatic works, including: the film 16 Hours in Karmei Tzur (2013), the film Eye of the Hawk (2013), the film Brothers of Blood (2013), the film Time of Men (2013), the film Prayer of the Wounded (2013), the film The Well of Death (2014), the film Crossroads (2014), the series The Soul (2014), the series The Fedayeen in two parts (2015-2016), and the series The Gate of Heaven in two parts (2017-2021).
He presented several research papers related to Palestinian drama, such as: Palestinian Drama: Challenges and Hopes in 2015, and Palestinian Cinema: Between Reality and Aspiration in 2018.
Al-Afranji believes in religiously and nationally committed dramatic work, and seeks to present artistic and dramatic works that support the Palestinian cause and serve the national liberation project. He sees Oslo as an ominous agreement that set the Palestinian cause back years, and hopes for the completion of reconciliation under the umbrella of not giving up the rights of the Palestinian people, and that it be based on democratic foundations. He believes that resistance in all its forms, which has been approved by divine laws and international laws, is the option for liberating historical Palestine and the return of refugees to their homes from which they were displaced. He calls for full national partnership for all Palestinians in all institutions and councils, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, and believes that the Palestinian cause is the first cause of Arabs and Muslims, despite the ongoing attempts at normalization.
Al-Afranji suffered during his life; his brother Abdullah was killed by the security services in Gaza in 2001, and his name was placed on the lists of those banned from traveling through the Rafah land crossing since 2018, and he was turned back from the crossing several times, which hindered his efforts to develop Palestinian drama in the Gaza Strip.
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