Amoudah Cinema

Amoudah Cinema was a movie theater in the town of Amoudah, in Syria’s Al-Hasakah Governorate. It is principally remembered not as an entertainment business but because of the catastrophic fire that destroyed the building in November 1960. The victims were predominantly Kurdish children under the age of 14. Contemporary and later accounts state that the hall, designed to hold approximately 200 people, contained roughly 500 children when the fire began during a film screening. More than 200 children were reported to have died. Accounts of the disaster describe a series of conditions that prevented an effective evacuation. The cinema’s exits were reportedly padlocked, staff members had left the building, and none of the four doors could be opened once the fire spread. The film stock was old and combustible; it ignited and the flames reached the wooden roof. Some children were trapped by crowding and suffocation, while others attempted to escape from a balcony without realizing that it was positioned above an open well. A local man, Mohammed Said Agha Daqqouri, was reported to have rescued 12 children before being killed by a falling wooden beam. The event has remained closely associated with Kurdish historical memory in Syria. Sources and commemorations have described the disaster as possibly connected to ethnic hostility toward Kurds, although the Syrian government never conducted an investigation that resolved the circumstances or established official accountability. Reports also state that authorities prevented bystanders from attempting rescues on the grounds that intervention was too dangerous, and that children of regime officials were not present at the screening. These details have contributed to the fire’s continuing political and communal significance, but some aspects of the event are based on later testimony and retrospective accounts rather than a transparent official inquiry. The fire left survivors with lasting physical and psychological injuries and affected families throughout Amoudah. Local descriptions of the aftermath emphasize the scale of loss across the town. The destroyed cinema therefore became a site of remembrance rather than an active commercial venue. A documentary script titled Amouda is Burning, by Kurdish-Syrian writer and lawyer Hasan Draei, is associated with the disaster’s representation in culture. Reconstruction of the cinema reportedly began on 31 August 2024. The reported project area was more than 1,100 cubic meters, with an estimated cost of US$346,326. The available reference material does not establish whether the rebuilt structure reopened as a functioning cinema, who financed it, or whether it operates under the original ownership. Accordingly, Amoudah Cinema is recorded here as a historically significant cinema venue destroyed in 1960, with reconstruction activity documented but its present operating status unresolved.

Amoudah Cinema was a movie theater located in Amoudah, a town in Syria’s Al-Hasakah Governorate. Little reliable business information about the venue survives in the available reference material: its founding date, operators, ownership, programming, and original construction are not established. Its historical importance derives from the fire that destroyed it in November 1960. The cinema was screening a film when a large audience of children was inside. The hall reportedly had capacity for about 200 people, but approximately 500 children were present. Most of those attending were Kurdish children younger than 14. The building’s physical arrangement and the conditions reported at the time created severe obstacles to escape. The exits were said to have been padlocked, cinema employees had left before the fire began, and the building’s four doors could not be opened during the emergency. Two Syrian soldiers were reportedly stationed at the entrance. According to accounts summarized in reference material, old and worn film stock caught fire. The flames then spread to the cinema’s wooden roof. The combination of fire, overcrowding, blocked exits, and panic caused many deaths by suffocation. Some children attempted to jump from a balcony, reportedly without knowing that an open well lay directly below it. A local man identified as Mohammed Said Agha Daqqouri was credited with saving 12 children before a falling wooden beam killed him. More than 200 children died. The victims were overwhelmingly Kurdish, and later accounts have suggested that the disaster may have been influenced by ethnic hostility toward Kurds. Other reported circumstances—including the alleged locking of exits, the departure of staff, restrictions on rescue attempts by onlookers, and the absence of children of regime officials—have contributed to allegations of official negligence or discriminatory treatment. The Syrian government reportedly never investigated the fire, leaving the historical record without a conclusive official explanation or accountability process. The consequences extended well beyond the immediate destruction of the building. Survivors were described as carrying permanent physical and psychological injuries, while families across Amoudah experienced the loss of children. Local remembrance has treated the fire as a collective tragedy and as part of the modern history of Kurdish communities in Syria. The venue consequently became known primarily through commemoration rather than through its former commercial role as a cinema. The disaster has also appeared in cultural work. Kurdish-Syrian writer and lawyer Hasan Draei wrote a documentary script titled Amouda is Burning, which addresses the fire. Reference material further reports that reconstruction began on 31 August 2024. The reported project area exceeded 1,100 cubic meters and the reported cost was US$346,326. The sources available for this dossier do not confirm the reconstruction’s completion, financing, operator, or reopening date. Amoudah Cinema is therefore best described as a defunct historical cinema venue associated with the 1960 fire, while the 2024 rebuilding project remains a documented but unresolved continuation of its story.

1. 2024Reconstruction begins

   Rebuilding reportedly began on 31 August 2024. The reported project area was more than 1,100 cubic meters and the reported cost was US$346,326.

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2. 1960Cinema destroyed in a fatal fire

   In November 1960, a fire at Amoudah Cinema killed more than 200 children, most of them Kurdish and under 14 years old, during a screening attended by approximately 500 children.

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Historically, a local cinema venue; after the 1960 fire, a site of remembrance associated with one of the deadliest cultural disasters in modern Kurdish-Syrian memory.

• 2024Decision to rebuild the cinemaOther

  The cinema had remained associated with the 1960 disaster and collective remembrance in Amoudah.

  What changed. Reconstruction reportedly started on 31 August 2024.

  Aftermath. The available material does not confirm whether reconstruction was completed or whether the venue reopened.

  Reported reconstruction cost. US$346,326 (2024 reconstruction project)

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• 1960Amoudah Cinema fire and alleged official negligenceControversy

  The November 1960 fire killed more than 200 children. Accounts cite locked exits, absent staff, an overcrowded hall, combustible film stock, and restrictions on rescue attempts. Later interpretations have associated the disaster with possible ethnic hostility toward Kurds. The Syrian government reportedly never investigated the incident, so the allegations were not resolved through a transparent official inquiry.

  Source

• 2024Reconstruction of Amoudah Cinema begins

  Rebuilding of the cinema reportedly began on 31 August 2024. Reference material gives a project area of more than 1,100 cubic meters and a reported cost of US$346,326.

  Other
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1. Amuda cinema fire