Official Lineup
At Trianon Cinemaيد إلهية
Divine Intervention
2002
|Drama, Satire
|92'
by Elia Suleiman إيليا سليمان
[France, Morocco, Germany, Palestine]
Part of the retrospective 'Elia Suleiman: A World in Silence' 'إيليا سليمان: عالم من الصمت'.
Greek and English subtitles
Synopsis
At the center of the Middle East conflict, Divine Intervention has hearts beating in tragic comedy and deadpan irony: a sexy young Palestinian woman defies Israeli soldiers and struts through a check-point as if it were the catwalk of a fashion show; Santa Claus is chased up the sun-drenched hills of Nazareth by a gang of knife-wielding school kids; Israeli police use a blindfolded prisoner to provide directions to tourists in Jerusalem; and a female ninja descends from the sky, holding the map of Palestine as her battle shield. A surreal black comedy co-produced, written and directed by Elia Suleiman.
Official Poster
Biography
Elia Suleiman إيليا سليمان was born in Nazareth in 1960 and lived in New York from 1981 to 1993, where he made his first short films. His first feature, Chronicle of a Disappearance, won the Best First Film prize at Venice in 1996; Divine Intervention won the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes in 2002, the first Palestinian film in the official competition. His films are marked by a deliberate, almost lyrical use of silence, while absurd and often dark humour runs throughout his work. As he himself has said, "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." His style often compared to Tati and Keaton.
Director's photo
