Born in Nazareth on July 28, 1960, Elia Suleiman lived in New York from 1981 to 1993. During this period, he made his first two short films: Introduction at the end of an argument and Homage by assassination, which earned him several awards. In 1994, he moved to Jerusalem where the European Commission commissioned him to create a Cinema and Media department at Birzeit University. His first feature film Chronicles of a Disappearance received the Best First Film prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. In 2002, Divine Intervention won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Foreign Film prize at the European Awards in Rome . Her latest feature film, Le Temps qu'il reste, was selected in Competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, Elia Suleiman directed the short film Diary of a Beginner, included in the collective feature film 7 Days to Havana presented the same year at the Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard section.