Born in 1960 in Nazareth, Elia Suleiman lived in New York from 1981 to
1993. While in the United States, he directed his first two short
films: Introduction to the End of an Argument (1990) and Homage by Assassination (1992), winning numerous awards.
In 1994, he settled down in Jerusalem, where the European Commission
entrusted him with the mission of creating a Film and Media Department
at Birzeit University. His essays and articles have been published in
English, Arabic and French.
His first feature film, Chronicle of a Disappearance won the Best Film Prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. In 2002, Divine Intervention won the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He has been present twice at LEFFEST in 2013 and 2015.
Often compared to Tati and Keaton, Elia Suleiman handles both sobriety and the burlesque through the same poetic sense.