Tag: Elia Suleiman

I was beginning on a new project, starting to jot down ideas, seeing which would linger, but when [Oct. 7] happened, everything stopped. I make very few films, with years in between, and I make them out of mostly personal experiences, so I need to experience a certain ambiance, and I need to sponge up the global ambiance. Since the start of the war, for the first months, I deserted the writing, because I found out that I don’t yet have anything to say. I just got back to it actually, even though the war is still going on. I don’t know why I’m calling it a war now: The genocide is going on and it’s getting worse. So I’ve started toying with ideas for my next film, started trying to put myself to work.

But I don’t think it’s really a question of being Palestinian. The fact that I’m Palestinian adds a certain layer of familiarity with the place, because I know people from all over Palestine. And being a Palestinian filmmaker puts you in a kind of an alienated position vis-à-vis the world, as you wonder about the horrors happening in Palestine and the governments that are supporting that horror. It makes you feel less hopeful about any possible change. But finally, it is about globalization — that there is power and money and multinationals with interests in militarization and fascism.