2019 Cannes Critics’ Panel: Day 12 – Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven

With a decade between features, Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman‘s has been a Cannes mainstay when you see that his four last film projects have all been showcased there. Excluding his segment in Cannes collection of shorts To Each His Own Cinema (2007) and a forgettable omnibus of filmmakers with the Un Certain Regard selected 7 Days in Havana, Suleiman last competed with 2009’s The Time That and before that, 2002’s prize winning Divine Intervention. A France/Germany/Canada/Turkey co-production (and filmed in Montreal as NYC), It Must Be Heaven see Suleiman place himself himself in front of the camera (not unlike his confrère Nanni Moretti) for some mordant introspection on identity and nationality issues with a narrative focused on what is home? He debuted his first film Chronicle of a Disappearance at Venice – winning Best First Film Prize in 1996. This also is a return to the Croisette for cinematographer Sofian El Fani who gave us Blue Is the Warmest Color and Timbuktu. There is also a couple of cameos including a sparrow that is amusing to say the least.

A pleasant film for the final day, audiences embraced this one at the premiere yesterday. It would win a special prize from the jury.