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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Elia Suleiman

Aired May 03, 2003 - 14:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A Palestinian filmmaker is getting some major attention for his most recent work. It's called "Divine Intervention," and its humorous take on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict is catching audiences off guard. I asked Elia Suleiman how he managed to find humor in such a serious topic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIA SULEIMAN, FILMMAKER: Well, you know, this kind of binary opposition regarding Israelis and Palestinians or Jews and Arabs is not exactly why I make films. So I have to say that humor is not a strategy, and it is great when I laugh at my own joke and other people laugh at them, too. So I think that they are not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) jokes. Of course, this is a question of humor and question of cinematographic elements involved. But really, what it is is just a cinema and what it is just the humor that I produce because my character is as such, and humor existed in many films and in many cinemas, and in mine as well.

WHITFIELD: And in fact, one of those jokes we're looking at right now is the scene when you are playing yourself and you are eating an apricot and you throw the pit out, and then suddenly there is an explosion. How is it that you were able to kind of make the connection between that humor and the kind of real-life situations that take place there?

SULEIMAN: Well, yes, let's replace first the word joke and make it a gag.

WHITFIELD: OK.

SULEIMAN: I think it's probably much more interesting to say that. You know, I mean, the way -- you know, I jot notes, and this is a scene that, in fact, happened as all the other scenes have happened, it comes from some sort of reality and sometimes this reality is kind of a fantasy that one has while driving, and it so happened that one time I was eating a peach and I had this idea as I threw the seed. So it's really a gag, but it's probably also translates in some sort of inner violence that happens to be inside of me, as you saw in the film. Not only that, but also other fantasy scenes that are humorous, and yet nonetheless, they have a certain amount of produced violence.

WHITFIELD: Well, here are a couple of other gags, if you will, then, if that you feel more comfortable of calling it. Here is one where you have this beautiful Arab woman who is in this kind of catwalk runway model kind of scene, approaching an Israeli checkpoint, and then we are also going to see at a checkpoint the image of Yasser Arafat on a helium balloon. Explain to me how it is you are able to make fun of this very serious situation? Because they're approaching this woman now with guns.

SULEIMAN: Well, you know, I mean, I don't know if you want to know that this is also part of a reality, that it did happen, and it so happened to this particular woman in real life, and this is a story that took place about 10 years ago. And exactly what you saw, in fact minus the tower breaking. The rest is just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of attitude, and I intentionally wanted to make it look like a shampoo commercial, for the fun of it, and the fact that she sort of seduces them to lower their guns with her magnificent beauty, but it is -- I mean, if we go on about the humor, I mean, I think there is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in all sorts of situations. I think that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) moments when I'm writing my films. I don't seem to desire to actually translate certain tragic situations always into tragedies, but rather into some moments of absurdity and humor.

I think this is atypical in fact of places where tragic situations happen, where dramas occur in the world. I mean, I contend that the most sophisticated sense of humor actually was produced in Jewish ghettos in the second world war. So -- and I think to draw from this extremity and this extreme violent situation, I can tell you that in many ghettos in the world, you have a lot of very funny sense of humor. So I think it's not really an awkward nor atypical situation; just the contrary, in fact, where there is drama and where there is a kind of occupation or oppression, I think you have this sort of situation.

WHITFIELD: This is a film that is being embraced in so many communities. And you feel like it's being taken too seriously? Or is taken seriously enough in its absurd kind of way?

SULEIMAN: Well, what's interesting about the film is that many people before they came to see the film, there was a kind of preconception, due to the fact of where it's taking place, and I think there was a preconception that it was going to be either a kind of dramatic or melodramatic (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of piece of work, and I think that initially when people are seeing the film, they sort of unfastened their seatbelts and they realize that, you know, everyday life continues to actually happen in these kinds of situations, and that people, in fact, insist on this kind of everyday life in order to manifest some kind of continuity and in order to produce hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Controversial or not, if you are wondering where you can see "Divine Intervention," log onto avatarfilms.com, for a list of the cities where the film is still playing and its showtimes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 3, 2003 - 14:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A Palestinian filmmaker is getting some major attention for his most recent work. It's called "Divine Intervention," and its humorous take on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict is catching audiences off guard. I asked Elia Suleiman how he managed to find humor in such a serious topic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIA SULEIMAN, FILMMAKER: Well, you know, this kind of binary opposition regarding Israelis and Palestinians or Jews and Arabs is not exactly why I make films. So I have to say that humor is not a strategy, and it is great when I laugh at my own joke and other people laugh at them, too. So I think that they are not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) jokes. Of course, this is a question of humor and question of cinematographic elements involved. But really, what it is is just a cinema and what it is just the humor that I produce because my character is as such, and humor existed in many films and in many cinemas, and in mine as well.

WHITFIELD: And in fact, one of those jokes we're looking at right now is the scene when you are playing yourself and you are eating an apricot and you throw the pit out, and then suddenly there is an explosion. How is it that you were able to kind of make the connection between that humor and the kind of real-life situations that take place there?

SULEIMAN: Well, yes, let's replace first the word joke and make it a gag.

WHITFIELD: OK.

SULEIMAN: I think it's probably much more interesting to say that. You know, I mean, the way -- you know, I jot notes, and this is a scene that, in fact, happened as all the other scenes have happened, it comes from some sort of reality and sometimes this reality is kind of a fantasy that one has while driving, and it so happened that one time I was eating a peach and I had this idea as I threw the seed. So it's really a gag, but it's probably also translates in some sort of inner violence that happens to be inside of me, as you saw in the film. Not only that, but also other fantasy scenes that are humorous, and yet nonetheless, they have a certain amount of produced violence.

WHITFIELD: Well, here are a couple of other gags, if you will, then, if that you feel more comfortable of calling it. Here is one where you have this beautiful Arab woman who is in this kind of catwalk runway model kind of scene, approaching an Israeli checkpoint, and then we are also going to see at a checkpoint the image of Yasser Arafat on a helium balloon. Explain to me how it is you are able to make fun of this very serious situation? Because they're approaching this woman now with guns.

SULEIMAN: Well, you know, I mean, I don't know if you want to know that this is also part of a reality, that it did happen, and it so happened to this particular woman in real life, and this is a story that took place about 10 years ago. And exactly what you saw, in fact minus the tower breaking. The rest is just (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of attitude, and I intentionally wanted to make it look like a shampoo commercial, for the fun of it, and the fact that she sort of seduces them to lower their guns with her magnificent beauty, but it is -- I mean, if we go on about the humor, I mean, I think there is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in all sorts of situations. I think that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) moments when I'm writing my films. I don't seem to desire to actually translate certain tragic situations always into tragedies, but rather into some moments of absurdity and humor.

I think this is atypical in fact of places where tragic situations happen, where dramas occur in the world. I mean, I contend that the most sophisticated sense of humor actually was produced in Jewish ghettos in the second world war. So -- and I think to draw from this extremity and this extreme violent situation, I can tell you that in many ghettos in the world, you have a lot of very funny sense of humor. So I think it's not really an awkward nor atypical situation; just the contrary, in fact, where there is drama and where there is a kind of occupation or oppression, I think you have this sort of situation.

WHITFIELD: This is a film that is being embraced in so many communities. And you feel like it's being taken too seriously? Or is taken seriously enough in its absurd kind of way?

SULEIMAN: Well, what's interesting about the film is that many people before they came to see the film, there was a kind of preconception, due to the fact of where it's taking place, and I think there was a preconception that it was going to be either a kind of dramatic or melodramatic (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of piece of work, and I think that initially when people are seeing the film, they sort of unfastened their seatbelts and they realize that, you know, everyday life continues to actually happen in these kinds of situations, and that people, in fact, insist on this kind of everyday life in order to manifest some kind of continuity and in order to produce hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Controversial or not, if you are wondering where you can see "Divine Intervention," log onto avatarfilms.com, for a list of the cities where the film is still playing and its showtimes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com