Palme d’Or-nominated director to head Competition jury at Sarajevo Film Festival.

Elia Suleiman

Palestinian director Elia Suleiman has been named jury president for the feature film competition at the upcoming 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 12-20).

The filmmakers is perhaps best known for Chronicle Of A Disappearance, which won the Best First Film Prize at Venice in 1996; Divine Intervention, which won the Jury Prize and FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes in 2002; and The Time That Remains, which played in Competition at Cannes in 2009.

In 2012, Suleiman made a short film titled Diary Of A Beginner, part of a collective feature titled 7 Days In Havana, which played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

The Nazareth-born director is currently serving as artistic advisor for the Doha Film Institute and is preparing his next feature film, which remains under wraps but promises “a voyage that will be crossing countries”.

At Sarajevo last year, the Feature Film Competition jury was presided over by Călin Peter Netzer, the Romanian director of Child’s Pose, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2013.