Monday 24 May 2010, 18.30

The Time That Remains (2009, 105 min) is a semi-biographical film by the award-winning Palestinian-Israeli director, writer and actor, Elia Suleiman. The film is inspired by his father's diaries of his personal accounts, starting from when he was a Resistance fighter in 1948, and by his mother's letters to family members who were forced to leave the country since then. The narrative unfolds over four historic episodes. Combined with Suleiman's intimate memories of them and with them, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained in their land and were labelled 'Israeli-Arabs,' living as a minority in their own homeland.

The screening will be introduced by independent curator and writer Rasha Salti, followed by a discussion moderated by Stuart Comer with Elia Suleiman and architects Eyal Weizman and Sandi Hillal of Decolonizing Architecture, followed by a Q & A session.

This screening of The Time That Remains is part of a series of programmes produced by Delfina Foundation and the London/Bethlehem-based practice of Decolonizing Architecture. Founded by Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti and Eyal Weizman, Decolonizing Architecture attempts to articulate the potential of architecture in opening an 'arena of speculation' that incorporates varied cultural aesthetic and political perspectives. The programme with Delfina Foundation includes residencies in Bethlehem, Palestine, a panel discussion at Tate Modern on 25 May, and a concurrent exhibition at Delfina Foundation.

Tate Modern  Starr Auditorium
£5 (£4 concessions), booking recommended
Special Offer: Book this film and the Decolonising Architecture Panel Discussion on 25 May for £15. Please call 020 7887 8888 to book.

    

Biography
Born in 1960 in Nazareth, Elia Suleiman lived in New York from 1981 to 1993. While in the United States, he directed his first two short films: Introduction to the End of an Argument and Hommage by Assassination, that won several awards. In 1994, he settled down in Jerusalem, where the European Commission entrusted him with the mission of creating a Film and Media Department at Birzeit University.

His essays and articles have been published in English, Arabic and French. His first feature film, Chronicle of a Disappearance, won the Best First Film Prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. In 2002, Divine Intervention won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival as well as the Best Foreign Film Prize at the European Awards in Rome. In 2006, he was member of the Jury of the Festival de Cannes. In 2007, he was one of 35 directors invited to direct a short film in the series 'To Each His Own Cinema' produced for the Cannes Film Festival 60th anniversary.

Often compared to Tati and Keaton, Elia Suleiman handles burlesque and sobriety with the same poetic sense. In 2009, The Time that Remains was selected in the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival. Elia Suleiman is the recipient of the 2008 Prince Claus Award and has been named Variety Magazine Middle-East filmmaker of the year 2009.