French director Abu Salem dies in the West Bank
French actor, director and long-time West Bank resident, Francois Abu Salem, has died aged-60 in Ramallah. His body was found on Saturday night in the al-Tira suburb of the Palestinian city, where he lived and worked for many years.Β
Issued on: Modified:
The cause of death was not immediately known, although suicide was being investigated as a possibility. Friends said he had been depressed.
Abu Salem was born in 1951 to renowned French poet and surgeon Lorand Gaspar and sculptor Francine Gaspar.
A fluent Arab-speaker, he was raised in east Jerusalem, Beirut and France.
In 1983, he co-founded the El-Hakawati Theatre Company which later grew into the Palestinian National Theatre, in east Jerusalem.
He was best known as a theatre director and also adapted plays by renowned authors including Dario Fo and Bertolt Brecht for a Palestinian audience.
He received the Palestine Prize for theatre from then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1998.
"It's a terrible loss for those close to him as well as for theatre in Palestine and as a whole," his friend Lea Tzemel told the French news agency.
Β
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe