Official Lineup
At Trianon Cinemaإن شئت كما في السماء
It Must Be Heaven
2019
|Comedy, Drama
|97'
by Elia Suleiman إيليا سليمان
[France, Germany, Canada, Qatar, Palestine, Turkey]
Opening night in the presence of the director Elia Suleiman.
Part of the retrospective 'Elia Suleiman: A World in Silence' 'إيليا سليمان: عالم من الصمت'.
Greek and English subtitles
Synopsis
In It Must Be Heaven, Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman writes, directs, and stars as a version of himself, a character identified only by his initials. E.S. escapes from Palestine seeking for a new homeland, while also trying to raise money for his new film. Soon, E.S. will come to find out that Palestine is trailing behind him: however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home. From award-winning director Elia Suleiman, a comic saga exploring identity, nationality and belonging, in which Suleiman asks the fundamental question: where is the place we can truly call home?
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
