The Faculty of Mass Communication and Fine Arts at Al Maaref University held a panel discussion entitled “Fine Arts in Lebanese Television: Now and Then” on Friday, November 18th 2022 on campus in Beirut.

Alongside students and professors, a number of guests participated including actor and writer Ouday Raad, actor and voice actor Saad Hamdan, director and writer Haitham Ammar, and anthropology researcher Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Baqer Kajak.

During the first discussion, actor Raad spoke about old dramatic productions and how they reflected on the societies in which they were producing content for. He also discussed how these productions followed clear standards and were more disciplined when covering political issues, avoiding provocative content that could lead to sectarian strife. Raad also discussed the importance of benefiting from international experiences in the field of production.

The second discussion included director Ammar examining the world of advertising between past and present. He provided a historical overview of its development over the years before he discussed the role of technology in the rapid transition of creating content of higher quality and more effectiveness to attract target audiences.

Actor and voice actor Hamdan drew attention to the world of animation that is broadcasted in Lebanon during the third discussion. He talked about the differences in animated series between the past and present. Hamdan also discussed how animation spread concepts of politics, violence, and assassinations and provided mechanisms on how to deal with such content.

During the fourth and final discussion, Sheikh Kajak talked about the role of parents in protecting children from certain concepts and ideas inserted daily into cultural productions. He discussed how to choose certain content and explain them to children educationally.

The panel also included further discussions between the participants before concluding with a group photo.

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