He was inspired to pursue a career in cinema after watching a film by Palestinian filmmaker Michel Khleifi.[5] Abu-Assad initially started as a television producer working on commissions for Channel 4 and the BBC. He co-founded Ayloul Film Productions in 1990 with Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi.[6]
Film career
Abu-Assad's Palestinian identity and the struggle for justice are central to his body of work, but his journey in the world of film began in the Netherlands.[7] He wrote and directed his first short film, Paper House in 1992 for NOS Dutch television. It depicted the efforts of a young Palestinian boy to build a dreamhouse after his own family home had been destroyed, and won several international film festival awards.[8]
The first feature film he directed was in Dutch, Het 14de kippetje (The Fourteenth Chick), in 1998. He co-wrote the script based on a story by writer Arnon Grunberg.[8]
He went on to direct two documentaries focused on his native Palestine: Nazareth 2000 (2000) for Dutch TV and Ford Transit (2002). The latter, which blurred the lines between documentary and fiction, won several awards at human rights and international film festivals, including the Jury Prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.[9] It followed a Palestinian taxi driver picking up passengers between checkpoints in the West Bank, including Hanan Ashrawi.[10] Abu-Assad went on to direct the feature film, Rana's Wedding (2002), produced as a Dutch-Palestinian collaboration & filmed in Ramallah and Jerusalem.[8] It won several awards at international film festivals for best film & actress (Clara Khoury).
His 2013 film Omar was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival[13] where it won the Jury Prize.[14] In 2014, Omar was the Palestinian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, and was nominated for the award. He is the only Palestinian director to achieved this distinction, and twice.[3][5][15] The film also won the award for Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.[16]
In 2014, Abu-Assad was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[17]
12Kamin, Debra (17 December 2011). "Palestinian filmmakers long for home". Variety. Retrieved 7 June 2024. "This is Palestine," he says. "They can decide whatever they want," he adds, referring to international governments, "but I don't consider the Palestinian territories the only place Palestinians should live.
12Hofstein, Avner (3 February 2006). "Oscar nominee: People hate Israelis for a reason". Ynet. Retrieved 7 June 2024. But you carry an Israeli passport. That's true, but I'm not Israeli, he says. Israel calls itself a Jewish state, and I'm not Jewish. If it becomes everybody's state, then I would be able to be called Israeli, he concludes.
12Kamin, Debra; Steinberg, Jessica (16 January 2014). "Palestinian movie, partly filmed in Israel, gets Oscar Nod". Times of Israel. Retrieved 7 June 2024. The Nazareth-born filmmaker, who carries Israeli citizenship but identifies himself as a Palestinian...
↑"Hij wil gaan en hij gaat ook" (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. 20 February 2006. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2014. Hany Abu-Assad heeft een Israëlisch en een Nederlands paspoort, hij woont tegenwoordig in Los Angeles, maar, alle relativeringsvermogen en zelfspot ten spijt, hij is en blijft een Palestijn, geboren in Nazareth.
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