Occupation director, actor Spouse Yasmine Hamdan Role Film director | Name Elia Suleiman Years active 1990–present TV shows Sodankyla Forever | |
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Born July 28, 1960 (age 63) ( 1960-07-28 ) Nazareth, Palestine Awards Cannes Jury Prize, European Film Award for Best Non-European Film Nominations Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film Movies The Time That Remains, Divine Intervention, 7 Days in Havana, Chronicle of a Disappearance, To Each His Own Cinema Similar People Juan Carlos Tabio, Laurent Cantet, Julio Medem, Pablo Trapero, Saleh Bakri | ||
Elia suleiman palestinian director cinema refuses to stop at the checkpoint
Elia Suleiman (Arabic: إيليا سليمان, [ˈʔiːlja sʊleːˈmaːn]; born July 28, 1960) is a Palestinian film director and actor of Rûm Greek Orthodox origin. He is best known for the 2002 film Divine Intervention (Arabic: يد إلهية), a modern tragic comedy on living under occupation in Palestine which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Elia Suleiman's cinematic style is often compared to that of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton, for its poetic interplay between "burlesque and sobriety". He is married to Lebanese singer and actress Yasmine Hamdan.
Contents
- Elia suleiman palestinian director cinema refuses to stop at the checkpoint
- The fabulous picture show elia suleiman masterclass
- Early work
- Pedagogical work
- Feature films
- Other film work
- Filmography
- References
The fabulous picture show elia suleiman masterclass
Early work
Between 1982–1993, Suleiman lived in New York City, where he co-directed: Introduction to the End of an Argument (1990) and directed Homage by Assassination, that both won numerous awards.
An experimental video film, co-directed by Jayce Sallou, Introduction to the End of an Argument critiqued the portrayal of Arabs in Western media and its effect on foreign policy by juxtaposing clips from Hollywood films, television broadcasts and cartoons with live scenes (shot by Salloum) from the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
Homage by Assassination is a "diary film" that critiques the 1991 Gulf War via the juxtaposition of multilayered personal anecdotes and identity. The film offers a lucid portrait of what Ella Shohat and Robert Stam have termed "cultural disembodiment," manifested in "multiple failures of communication," that reflect the contradictions of a "diasporic subject."
Pedagogical work
In 1994, Suleiman moved to Jerusalem and began teaching at Birzeit University in the West Bank. He was entrusted with the task of developing a Film and Media Department at the university with funding support from the European Commission. In 2008 Elia Suleiman became a professor at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee. He continues to guest lecture in other universities around the world.
Feature films
In 1996, Suleiman directed Chronicle of a Disappearance, his first feature film. It won the Best First Film Prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival.
In 2002, Suleiman's second feature film, Divine Intervention, subtitled, A Chronicle of Love and Pain, won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and the International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI), also receiving the Best Foreign Film Prize at the European Awards in Rome.
His latest film is called The Time That Remains, which competed in the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Suleiman won the Black Pearl prize for best Middle Eastern narrative film at the Middle Eastern Film Festival in Abu Dhabi on October 17, 2009. The film won the Critics' Prize from the Argentinean Film Critics Association at Mar del Plata International Film Festival.
Other film work
In his 1998 film, The Arab Dream ("Al Hilm Al-Arabi") Suleiman autobiographically explores issues of identity, expressing that: "I don't have a homeland to say I live in exile... I live in postmortem... daily life, daily death." Suleiman also produced a short film in 1997, entitled War and Peace in Vesoul.
In 2000, Suleiman released the 15-minute short film "Cyber Palestine" which follows a modern-day Mary and Joseph as they attempt to cross from Gaza into Bethlehem. Suleiman was part of the nine person jury for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.