| Elia Suleiman | |
| Native Name: | إيليا سليمان |
| Native Name Lang: | ar |
| Birth Date: | 28 July 1960 |
| Occupation: | director, actor |
| Years Active: | 1990–present |
Elia Suleiman (Arabic: إيليا سليمان, pronounced as /ar/; born 28 July 1960) is a Palestinian film director and actor.[1] [2] He is best known for the 2002 film Divine Intervention (Arabic: يد إلهية), a modern tragicomedy on living under occupation in Palestine which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Suleiman's cinematic style is often compared to that of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton, for its poetic interplay between "burlesque and sobriety".[3] He is married to Lebanese singer and actress Yasmine Hamdan.
Between 1982 and 1993, Suleiman lived in New York City, where he co-directed Introduction to the End of an Argument (1990) and directed Homage by Assassination, both winning numerous awards.
An experimental video film, co-directed by Jayce Salloum, 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.[4]
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."[5]
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.[3] In 2008 Elia Suleiman became a professor at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.[1] He continues to guest lecture in other universities around the world.
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.[3]
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[6] and the International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI), also receiving the Best Foreign Film Prize at the European Awards in Rome.[7]
The third film in his trilogy 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 17 October 2009.[8] The film won the Critics' Prize from the Argentinean Film Critics Association at Mar del Plata International Film Festival.[9]
His film, It Must Be Heaven, competed in the 2019 Cannes Film Festival[10] and had its North American premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.[11]
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."[12] Suleiman also produced a short film in 1997, entitled War and Peace in Vesoul.[4]
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.[13] Suleiman was part of the nine person jury for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.[14]
Suleiman is often cited for his use of silence in his films, in both their acting and directing. Suleiman criticized many Palestinian actors for too heavily relying on overly theatrical expression, stating, "A lot of the characters are movements within the frame, and I prefer the choreography, I prefer the musicality that comes from their appearances etc."[15] Due to this sentiment, the oeuvre of Suleiman consists of many understated, dialogue-free performances, from both himself and his actors. Some scholars link Suleiman's stylistic silence to an expression of the oppression of Palestinians in occupied territory, with Tom Hill writing "the most subtle explorations of the particular, metonymic predicaments of Palestinian citizens of Israel."
Suleiman's films employ absurd, often dark humor throughout his work. This can be seen through instances such as Santa Claus being stabbed by a gang of children (Divine Intervention) and a salesclerk selling "holy water," which is later revealed to be coming from the tap (Chronicles of a Disappearance). Suleiman admits to using humor as a defense mechanism, stating in an interview that "When you make an audience laugh, you actually open their eyes to the issue on the screen. Laughter is against despair."[16]
Suleiman's acting style is often likened to that of Buster Keaton, due to his expressive eyes and silent performances. However, Suleiman himself denies Keaton being an influence on his body of work, stating (when asked about his influences), "People always refer to Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati but it is not true, as I had made films before I watched them."