Set in the bright orange groves of a small village in the Syrian countryside, Verbal Letters has earned Abdellatif Abdul-Hamid frequent comparisons to French author Marcel Pagnol (Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources). The film, about love friendship, loyalty and the magic of the first kiss, is loosely adapted from the story of Cyrano de Bergerac. A young man with an oversized nose is too embarrassed to approach the beautiful young woman he has fallen deeply in love with. He dispatches his most trusted friend to recite to her his love letters, but she falls for the friend. The film is an ode of tenderness and humor to childhood, coming of age, the enchantment of the first love, and the pains of learning multiplication tables.

Born in Lattakiah, in 1954, Abdellatif Abdul-Hamid worked as an actor, musician and singer in the theaters of his hometown prior to pursuing studies in film directing. Two years after enrolling in the University of Lattakiah to study Arabic literature, he earned a scholarship to study at the VGIK (Moscow Film Institute), where he graduated in 1981.

He has directed two short documentaries for the General Organization for Cinema in Syria, Umniyat (Wishes, 1983) and Aydeena (Our Hands, 1983). He worked as an assistant director to Mohammad Malas on Ahlam al-Madina (Dreams of the City, 1983). He also played the lead role in Oussama Mohammad's Stars in Broad Day (Nujum an-Nahar, 1988). Among Syrian filmmakers his work has garnered the widest popular appeal in Syria and the Arab world. His filmography includes, Layali Ibn Awah (Nights of the Jackals, 1988), Rasa’el Shafahiyyah (Verbal Letters, 1991), Su'ud al-Matar (The Rise of Rain, 1994), Nassim al-Rouh (Soul Breeze, 1998), Qamaran wa Zaytounah (Two Moons and an Olive, 2001), Ma Yatlubuhu al-Mustami‘un (At Our Listeners' Request, 2003). He has just completed his seventh fiction feature, due for release in 2006. He has written the scripts for all his films, as well as the script for a television serial entitled Usbu‘an wa Khamsat Shuhur (Two Weeks and Five Months, 1985).

His films have earned numerous awards in the Arab world, beginning with the Damascus Film Festival, the Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage (Tunisia), and Rabat International Film Festival (Morocco). They have also received critical acclaim world wide: Verbal Letters received the Golden Olive at the Valencia Mediterranean Film Festival in 1992 and At Our Listeners' Request received the Special Acknowledgement at the Asiatica Film Mediale in Italy in 2003 “for the lyricism with which he was capable of describing the tricks of fortune and the reality of war.”