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Recommendations based on

Holding Back Tears

2005 TV Show Drama

The series examines the change in the composition of the Syrian family, through the life of a number of Damascene families that are connected by a number of intertwining relationships, as love blossoms between the lawyer Riyad El Emary and the interior designer Riad El Merady.

Same cast & genre

30 Shares actors and at least one genre with this title
The Four Seasons poster
TV

Damascus in the late 1990s. Kareem and Nabila are raising five very different daughters — each with her own personality, ambitions and complications — alongside a scene-stealing aunt Jamila. Every episode centres on a family issue that brings everyone together to argue, laugh and muddle through. Warm, witty and deeply rooted in Syrian daily life, it remains one of the most beloved family comedies in Syrian television history. Stars Jamal Suleiman and Khaled Taja.

The Four Seasons

1999 Drama
ليس سراباً poster
TV

The show tells the story of a playwright, Jalal, who holds secular views, and his close friendship with Michel, his childhood friend. Michel initially worked as a lawyer but later transitioned to journalism, founding his own magazine in which he boldly addresses societal issues, drawing significant criticism. Additionally, the narrative explores themes of separating religion from civil and political life through a love story between a man and a woman from different faiths: Jalal (a Muslim) and Hanan (a Christian). Their relationship culminates in a secret marriage, which lasts until Jalal’s sudden passing. Throughout the story, the work focuses on two major issues related to secularism: the demand for a civil personal status law that permits civil marriage, and the call for a secular education system that allows students the freedom to seek their own truths instead of being indoctrinated with a predetermined "absolute truth." It also tackles issues of political and social corruption.

ليس سراباً

2008 Drama
Palestinian Alienation poster
TV

The first comprehensive dramatic telling of the Palestinian Nakba, seen through the eyes of a poor rural family from the 1930s British Mandate era through the massacres of 1948 and the defeat of 1967. Written by Palestinian poet Walid Seif — based on his own family history — and directed by the late Syrian master Hatem Ali, this is widely considered one of the greatest Arab television dramas ever produced. A monumental work of collective memory, historical witness and human endurance.

Palestinian Alienation

2004 Drama
The Falcon of Quraish poster
TV

When the Abbasids overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus, slaughtering nearly the entire dynasty, one young prince escapes — Abd al-Rahman. Hunted across deserts and seas, he eventually reaches the fringes of the Muslim world and, through sheer will and political genius, founds a new Umayyad emirate in Andalusia. Written by Walid Seif and directed by Hatem Ali, this is the first chapter of their celebrated Andalusian trilogy — epic, human and historically meticulous.

The Falcon of Quraish

2002 War & Politics

Closely Ranked

10 Ranked across franchise, crew, cast, themes, genre, era and audience scores
The Falcon of Quraish poster
100% match TV

When the Abbasids overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus, slaughtering nearly the entire dynasty, one young prince escapes — Abd al-Rahman. Hunted across deserts and seas, he eventually reaches the fringes of the Muslim world and, through sheer will and political genius, founds a new Umayyad emirate in Andalusia. Written by Walid Seif and directed by Hatem Ali, this is the first chapter of their celebrated Andalusian trilogy — epic, human and historically meticulous.

The Falcon of Quraish

2002 War & Politics

Shares 3 cast members · Same director

Bab Al-Hara poster
80% match TV

A modern classic of Arab television. A social drama set in the 1920s in Damascus- It highlights Damascene life, noble values, and ancient customs and traditions represented by the people of Harat al-Dabeh who fled to Harat al-Salihiyah after the French bombed Harat al-Dabeh. The events take place after the gold is stolen from the house of the cloth merchant Abu Ibrahim, and the guard Abu al-Samu is killed. The men of the neighborhood try to find the thief.

Bab Al-Hara

★ 7.6 2006 Drama

Shares 3 cast members

The Four Seasons poster
70% match TV

Damascus in the late 1990s. Kareem and Nabila are raising five very different daughters — each with her own personality, ambitions and complications — alongside a scene-stealing aunt Jamila. Every episode centres on a family issue that brings everyone together to argue, laugh and muddle through. Warm, witty and deeply rooted in Syrian daily life, it remains one of the most beloved family comedies in Syrian television history. Stars Jamal Suleiman and Khaled Taja.

The Four Seasons

1999 Drama

Shares 2 cast members · Same director