Film director Elia Suleiman (right) honored in Ramallah by Minister of Culture Atef Abu Seif. (WAFA Images)

RAMALLAH, Thursday, October 03, 2019 (WAFA) – Palestinian film director and Oscar nominee Elia Suleiman was honored today by the Ministry of Culture for his work in cinema.

Minister of Culture Atef Abu Seif praised Suleiman for his work, particularly his recent film, It Must Be Heaven, which was nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category and has won the 2019 Cannes Special Jury Prize.

In the film, Elia Suleiman, the lead actor, escapes from Palestine seeking an alternative homeland, only to find that Palestine is trailing behind him. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors: however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home. The film is a comic saga exploring identity, nationality and belonging, in which Suleiman asks the fundamental question: where is the place we can truly call home?

Director and actor Suleiman is also best known for his film, Divine Intervention, which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

It Must Be Heaven opened the Palestine Cinema Days, launched yesterday in Ramallah and which will continue through October 8 in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nablus in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip, and in Nazareth, Suleiman’s city of birth.

M.K.