Seven years after Divine Intervention (2002), the film that won him a special jury prize at Cannes, Elia Suleiman is back with The Time That Remains. No one is better at capturing the slapstick quality of life in Israel, with its disrupted relations between Israelis and Palestinians, than Suleiman. He based the film on diaries that his father wrote on his deathbed in Nazareth. As always, Suleiman plays himself, and his camera records without commentary the bizarre mutual misunderstandings and harassments between the different population groups. In this film, he mirrors the moral and intellectual routes that he and his father had to take during their lives. His father started as a Palestinian resistance hero during the Israeli war of independence in 1948, but later lost any will to protest. The son initially accepted the political situation, but later chose to be an activist, before he finally decided as a film maker to adopt a more critical and observing attitude toward the conflict.
Film details
Productielanden
Belgium, France, Italy, United Kingdom
Jaar
2009
Festivaleditie
IFFR 2010
Lengte
109'
Medium/Formaat
35mm
Taal
Arabic, Hebrew
Première status
None
Director
Elia Suleiman
Producer
Michael Gentile, Elia Suleiman
Production design
Sharif Waked
Screenplay
Elia Suleiman
Principal cast
Elia Suleiman
Production company
The Film, Nazira Films, France 3 Cinema, Artémis Productions, BIM Distribuzione, RTBF, Belgacom