It Must Be Heaven

Fiction, director: Elia Suleiman, Palestine/France/Qatar/Germany/Canada/Turkey, 2019, 97 min., Arab./Fr. with German ST. 

> Friday, 26.04.2024 | 21:30 | City Kino Wedding |

In this film, Elia Suleiman portrays Palestine less as a place with a specific history and defined geography, and more as a condition that can be replicated everywhere. Suleiman plays his alter ego, E.S., a director from Nazareth who travels to Paris and then to New York in his pursuit to fund his film. With a reserved smile and a curious look, he observes a world in which he barely engages, unfolding in absurdity before his eyes. Home seems inevitably trailing behind. The world has been “Palastinized.” “This is my funniest film so far. So that tells you the world is really in a terrible state,” says the renowned director commenting on his film in an interview to The New York Times. It Must Be Heaven premiered in the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival and was awarded a special mention.