"On The Edge of Fiction": Elia Suleiman’s Cinema of Belonging

Elia Suleiman (1960–), who appears in many of his own works as his alter-ego “E. S.”, can be viewed as a filmmaker who incorporates the personal and autobiographical into all of his films. Born under Israeli occupation in Nazareth, Palestine, Suleiman moved to New York City and discovered the work of Robert Bresson, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jacques Tati and Yasujiro Ozu, amongst others, all subsequent influences on his filmmaking practice.

Returning to his homeland, Suleiman created a film trilogy that chronicles Palestinian existence after the 1948 Nakba, made implicitly and explicitly as works of resistance against a colonial state.

This season includes these three features – CHRONICLE OF A DISAPPEARANCE (1996), DIVINE INTERVENTION (2002) and THE TIME THAT REMAINS (2009) – as well as his most recent feature IT MUST BE HEAVEN (2019), together highlighting an oeuvre that, though consistent in its political awareness and visual design, seeks to further the story of a nation.


WEDNESDAY 15 OCTOBER

7:00pm CHRONICLE OF A DISAPPEARANCE
Elia Suleiman (1996) 88 mins – M
35mm print

8:45pm DIVINE INTERVENTION
Elia Suleiman (2002) 92 mins – MA 15+
35mm print


WEDNESDAY 22 OCTOBER

7:00pm THE TIME THAT REMAINS
Elia Suleiman (2009) 109 mins – Unclassified 15+

9:05pm IT MUST BE HEAVEN
Elia Suleiman (2019) 97 mins – M


Memberships options: acmi.net.au/cteq

Full program notes: melbournecinematheque.org/category/present-year/on-the-edge-of-fiction-elia-suleimans-cinema-of-belonging


State Government support by VicScreen.

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• This Wednesday, 8th October, 09:00 am, One for the Ages: The Balladic, Painterly Cinema of František Vláčil in Melbourne

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