This article is translated from an interview published by BFI Sight & Sound on June 15, 2021 by Nick Chen
The deadpan tragicomedy talks about his new film, It Must Be Heaven, where the trauma of violence on and off the film follows him from Palestine to Paris, and why he finds hope in a younger generation of his countrymen.
While some writers and directors have given their most flamboyant lines, Elijah Suleiman uttered these three words in his fourth self-directed feature film: "Palestinisation is everywhere".
It's worth noting that the phrase appears in the Palestinian director's latest tragicomedy, "It Must Be Paradise," where, as usual, Suleiman plays his alter ego ES, after being asked about him by a New York taxi driver. It was only when he came to his homeland that he broke his usual silence. "Nazareth," ES replied, before adding, "I'm Palestinian."
In this 2019 Cannes 2019 Jury Special Mention, ES is a captivating, eye-catching observer who is neatly arranged into a well-choreographed performance (mise-en-scène) , the storyline is loose, and ES flies around the world to pitch film projects. In Paris, Wild Bunch's Vincent Maraval, self-deprecating, complained to ES: "Your film is not enough Palestine... The story takes place in Palestine, but it could be anywhere."
But like "God's Intervention" (2002) and "It Must Be Heaven" is actually a series of comic interludes that juxtapose everyday poetry with violence. In a wacky passage, a bird refuses to leave the ES's laptop; two soldiers exchange sunglasses in a car until the camera shifts to a blindfolded woman in the back seat.
Meanwhile, ES noted that Palestinian violence is following him globally. Or, as the real Suleiman told me at the 2019 London Film Festival before the Covid-19 outbreak, it's "the Palestineization of the world."
Here, the edited transcript reveals that Suleiman himself was so chatty that it made the other directors seem as silent as ES.
Q: When Gael García Bernal introduced you to a producer, he said, "He's a Palestinian filmmaker, but he makes interesting films." Is that true?
A: Exactly, that's exactly what he said, he introduced me to Clint Eastwood. He was the owner of Warner Bros., and he told Clint, "He's Palestinian, but he makes funny movies." Clint winked at me and said, "Well, bad things happen. "
Q: Are you pitching movies to Warner Bros.?
A: Warner Bros. would like to make a movie of mine. I asked, "Why do you guys want to do this?" They said, "It's good for the catalog." In the US, it's not feasible for Warners to want to make my movie unless I shoot for them? So I cut it short .
Q: To be honest, "It Must Be Heaven" is a bit like a New York movie.
A: This is still not the commercial film I was asked to do. But I've heard every line you hear in the movie, I just film them.
Q: In your films, the world is tied together by violence.
A: This led to the film, global violence is abnormally present in everyone's life. I have lived all over the world and have accepted the Palestinianization of the world, that violence is not only in the local geopolitical realm, but virtually everywhere you go, it is always there.
We were hurt by the sound of sirens, and sometimes I waited to see that it was an ambulance or a fire brigade car, not a police car. When you live in Paris, you know after witnessing what we've witnessed (130 killed in an organized terror attack in November 2015) - and I still remember when I heard sirens in my apartment , I'd say, "Oh my God, don't do it again."
The film is about how violence erupted in Palestine, where we're already in it, and after all these years, an organized, full-fledged fascist government was born, and the world still thinks it's the same as everyday life, and then this The characters choose not to face that violence, and turn around and choose another place to live, just like me.
I'm talking about what I've been through, like what happened in Paris. You were traumatized because the violence followed you wherever you went, and I was really traumatized, not much in person, maybe with my wife at the time, but not as deep as I was in France at the time The kind of emotion you feel about what happened, you actually suffer from double trauma.
Q: You showed both sides of Paris, the Cara Delevingne fashion show and the homeless homeless.
A: He came to find paradise, only to encounter another form of global violence, and it was only a symptom: the fashion of the city and the beautiful girls on the streets. But the next day, the streets were empty, and he didn't realize it was July 14 (France's National Day), which is how the film's subject tries to connect with Paris - Arabs dodging the police, tanks in the streets wandering.
Q: Silence, and breaking the silence, always adds some tension to the humor in your films.
A: It ’s very interesting to create sound, and a lot of times, the sound actually stays in your head, like an extension of the image. I always thought the sound was not in the background but parallel to the image.
Q: You sometimes compare to Jacques Tati, so can you know a person from his upbringing? For example, if I say Mr. Bean...
A: (shakes his head) No, he is too old-fashioned. I'm more like Tati and Buster Keaton. I'm not inspired by them - although everyone thinks like you, I didn't know who they were when I made the film, but I love their work and I'm flattered.
Q: I said Mr. Bean, do you think this is insulting?
A: I don't like him. Maybe you will watch his shows while eating. Some of his things are very interesting. But Peter Sellers films interest me because they can be really complicated sometimes.
Q: When your character visits a gay bar at the end, it reminds me of the nightclub scene in Time Is Still, and it's so comforting to see people jumping around.
A: The final scene of the film goes back to my identification with a new generation of Palestinians who have shed their nationalist ideology and become radical progressives, which is exactly what I have been working on for decades to become citizens of the world . They have become citizens of the world. Actually, from their own standpoint, there is no need to travel because they now realize that Palestine has become a concept of gender equality, a concept of progress, a concept of identity building for all the injustices in the world.
I look at them hopefully with a positive mindset because they express their resistance with cultural diversity and a festive mood, their resistance to power is dancing, you can't arrest creative people. You can put a poet in jail, but you can't arrest poetry.
Q: So you think young people can save the world?
A: I wish I could be 30 years younger. I envy what the younger generation does. The people you saw in the last scene were real people on set, and I had a certain feeling that resonated with them when I faced them, even though I hadn't met them.
Others tell me Haifa has the prettiest bar. We filmed all the way and were very involved. I kept drinking and watching until 3am, which ended in a gay bar. I thought, "This must be the last scene of the movie." It was awesome, and it matched my feelings and emotions exactly, like a fateful scene.
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