30th Sarajevo Film Festival: Honorary Heart of Sarajevo to be Awarded to Palestinian Director Elia Suleiman

(Patria) - The 30th Sarajevo Film Festival will honor Palestinian director Elia Suleiman in recognition of his exceptional contribution to film art. The multi-award-winning author will be presented with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award, while a retrospective of his selected films will be shown as part of the "Tribute to" program.

Suleiman was a guest of the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival (2019) when his film "It Must Be Heaven" was screened in the Open Air program, winning a Special Jury Prize at Cannes the same year. He was president of the jury of the 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival (2016) and a guest of the 19th Sarajevo Film Festival (2013).

"It is an honor to pay tribute to an exceptional author and friend of the Sarajevo Film Festival, who speaks through the universal language of film about fundamental human values and emotions: fear and hope, home and homeland. With his distinctive spirit, humor, and deep understanding, Elia Suleiman shows the complexity of our existence, illuminating the absurdities of life with unmatched clarity and poignancy, portraying the spirit and identity of Palestine with a unique authorial style. Now, in the darkest times in his homeland, his work represents a beacon of understanding, reminding us of the power of storytelling to foster much-needed dialogue," said Jovan Marjanović, Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

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" and "Homage by Assassination," winning numerous awards. In 1994, he settled in Jerusalem, where the European Commission entrusted him with the mission of founding the Department of Film and Media at Birzeit University.

His first feature film, "Chronicle of a Disappearance," won the award for Best First Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1996.

With the film "Divine Intervention" in 2002, he won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Prize awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics, as well as the European Film Academy Award for Best Foreign Film presented in Rome.

In 2007, he was selected among 35 directors who worked on the film "To Each His Own Cinema," made to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival.

His feature film "The Time That Remains" was in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. In 2012, he completed the short film "Diary of a Beginner," part of the omnibus "7 Days in Havana," which was screened in the "Un Certain Regard" program at the Cannes Film Festival.

His latest feature film, "It Must Be Heaven," won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 2019 and the FIPRESCI International Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

He has been a jury member at numerous festivals, including the Cannes (2006) and Venice film festivals. He has received many awards, notably the "Prince Claus" Award in 2008. In 2020, the Ministry of Culture appointed him "Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres."

He is the recipient of the European Achievement in World Cinema Award in 2022 from the European Film Academy and an honorary doctorate from UcLouvain Belgium in February 2023. Elia Suleiman currently serves as Artistic Advisor to the Doha Film Institute.