National Egyptian Theater Festival’s administration mourns late critic Hassan Attia

CAIRO – 28 July 2020: The administration of the National Egyptian Theater Festival, headed by artist Youssef Ismail, mourned late critic Hassan Attia, the former president of the festival, who passed away on Monday after a struggle with disease.

Youssef Ismail said that Attia is one of the icons of theatrical criticism and has had a great artistic and scientific career of creativity and academic achievements.

It should be noted that Hassan Attiaoccupied the positions of professor of theories of drama and criticism at the Academy of Arts and dean of the High Institute for Theatrical Arts and the Higher Institute of Folk Art and head of the Department of Cultural Revitalization at the Academy of Arts. He also worked as editor-in-chief of the Contemporary Art magazine, theatrical critic at Al- Kawakib magazine, the former president of the Arab Association of theatrical Critics and the former president of the Egyptian Film Critics Association.

Attia gained membership in many specialized institutions, including councils and scientific committees in the fields of theater, cinema and television, in addition to membership of the Writers Union and the Acting Professions Syndicate.

He holds a PhD in the sociological methodology of criticism from the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, Autonoma University in Madrid (Spain).

Attia supervised and discussed many doctoral and master's theses at the Egyptian and Arab universities. He participated in many theatrical, cinematic and literary international forums, festivals and conferences in Egypt, the Arab world, Europe and Latin America.

Attia translated and reviewed many texts and books translated from Spanish. He has published many books on theater, cinema and folklore.