IT MUST BE HEAVEN
O.V in French, English and Arabic subtitled in English and Spanish
Elia Suleiman (The Time that Remains) writes, directs and stars in this film in which she faces the never easy condition of being Palestinian, turning it into an impossible junction between Buster Keaton, Jacques Tati and Roy Andersson. It is in this code of minimalist and perplexed comedy that Suleiman tells how she runs away from Palestine to be reminded of it everywhere, from Paris to New York, while seeking funding for a movie, this movie: a reflection of the world in its ridiculousness, cruelty and contradictions, we find ourselves laughing and thinking at the same time.
Direction : Elia Suleiman
Script : Elia Suleiman
Cinematography: Sofian El Fani
Editing: Véronique Lange
Sound: Lars Ginzel, Johannes Doberenz Gwennolé Le Borgne, Olivier Touche Laure Anne Darras
Cast: Elia Suleiman
Production: Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, Hanaa Issa, Édouard Weil, Laurine Pelassy, Elia Suleiman, Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel, Serge Noël
Production Company: Rectangle Productions Nazira Films, Pallas Film Possibles Media, Zeyno Film
ELIA SULEIMAN
Born in Nazareth in 1960, Elia Suleiman lived in New York between 1981 and 1993. During this period, he directed his two first short films, Introduction to the End of an Argument and Homage by Assassination, which won him numerous prizes. In 1994, he moved to Jerusalem where the European Commission charged him with establishing a Cinema and Media department at Birzeit University. His feature debut, Chronicle of a Disappearance, won the Best First Film award at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. In 2002, Divine Intervention won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Foreign Film prize at the European Awards in Rome. His feature, The Time That Remains, screened In Competition at the 2009 Cannes film Festival. In 2012, Elia Suleiman directed the short film Diary of a Beginner, part of the portmanteau feature 7 Days in Havana, which screened that year in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, festival where he won the FIPRESCI Price for his latest film, It Must be Heaven.