Photo: Adnasaida / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Elia Suleiman is, for me, one of cinema's great masters of eloquent silence. A Palestinian filmmaker from Nazareth, he turns the daily absurdities of life under occupation into deadpan, almost wordless comedy that lands as both laughter and grief. Divine Intervention winning the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2002 confirmed that you can speak about the gravest political realities without ever raising your voice. What impresses me most is his refusal to compromise his style for accessibility, yet still earning a European Film Award and a World Cinema honor. He proves that restraint, not volume, can be the sharpest political instrument an artist owns.
Overview
Elia Suleiman (Arabic: إيليا سليمان, IPA: [ˈʔiːlja sʊleːˈmaːn]; born 28 July 1960) is a Palestinian film director and actor. He is best known for the 2002 film Divine Intervention (Arabic: يد إلهية), a modern tragicomedy on living under occupation in Palestine which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Elia Suleiman
- Name (Japanese)
- エリア・スレイマン
- Reading
- えりあ・すれいまん
- Born
- July 28, 1960 (age 65)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Rat
- Origin
- Nazareth, Israel
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / film director / screenwriter / film actor / film producer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Birzeit University
Awards & achievements
- Prince Claus Award
- 2002 European Film Award for Best Non-European Film
- 2022 European Film Academy Achievement in World Cinema Award
- 2020 Lumière Award for Best International Co-Production
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Film director — see all → · More people from Israel →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.