Biographies: Elia Suleiman - Director

Biographies

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Elia Suleiman born July 28, 1960 in Nazareth is a Palestinian film director and actor. At the age of 17, he was arrested by Israeli Police in Tel Aviv and forced to confess to his involvement with the PLO, which he refused to do. Shortly thereafter, he moved to London, then Paris, then back to Israel a year later. In 1982, he left Israel for New York, where he resided for 12 years. In 1994, he returned 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 1996, Suleiman directed "Chronicle of a Disappearance," his first feature film. It won the Best First Film Prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. Elia is best known for the 2002 film "Divine Intervention" a modern tragic comedy on living under occupation in the Palestinian territories. This film won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, also receiving the Best Foreign Film Prize at the European Awards in Rome. Suleiman later was honored by being asked to serve as part of the nine person jury for the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. 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. 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.

• 25 October 2010
• نورا سراج الدين