Doha Film Institute (DFI), the independent not-for-profit cultural umbrella that encompasses Qatars film initiatives, has appointed renowned director, actor and writer, Elia Suleiman to the post of Artistic Advisor. First and foremost, Elias bedrock credentials as a greatly admired director are invaluable to DFI in its mission to develop and support emerging filmmakers all over […]
Doha Film Institute (DFI), the independent not-for-profit cultural umbrella that encompasses Qatars film initiatives, has appointed renowned director, actor and writer, Elia Suleiman to the post of Artistic Advisor.
First and foremost, Elias bedrock credentials as a greatly admired director are invaluable to DFI in its mission to develop and support emerging filmmakers all over the world, said Abdulaziz Al Khater, Chief Executive Officer of DFI. We know from his films that along with his filmmaking precision, Elia has a playfulness about him, a keen sense of the absurd. I think his particular worldview and his unbounded passion for exciting new ideas will provide real inspiration. We will take his infectious energy out into the world as we seek out the best new filmmaking voices and nurture the work of the artists we have already engaged with.
On his appointment, Suleiman said: We can imagine, desire, love and daydream. What is imagined, yet invisible to others, has the potential to become visible, and be shared. But we must not wait. We must activate; we must participate. Take a leap. It is true that nothing is reassuring. But we will always have something to cling to; there is always hope. Hence the proposition of a structure a cinematic house of culture anchored to the principle of hope. I am convinced the essence of this hope is to be found among the new generations of visual poets from around the globe.
A renowned icon of contemporary cinema, Suleiman has received numerous international accolades for his films. His feature-length films are The Time that Remains (2009), which was selected for the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Black Pearl Award for Best Middle Eastern Narrative Film at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Film Festival; Divine Intervention (2002), which won the Jury Prize and the International Film Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) at Cannes and the Best Foreign Film Prize at the European Awards in Rome. Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996) won the Best First Film Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Suleiman lived in New York City for a decade (198293) before moving back to Palestine to teach Film and Media at Birzeit University near Ramallah, in the West Bank. It was during his time in the United States that he co-directed the short film Introduction to the End of an Argument (1990), and he directed Homage by Assassination (1992).
