“O Paraíso Deve Be Aqui”, an award-winning autobiographical drama comedy directed by Elia Suleiman, opens in Brazilian cinemas

With distribution by Imovision, the film is shown in Florianópolis at Paradigma Cine Arte*

Comes to Brazilian cinemas the dramatic comedy “O Paraíso Deve Be Aqui” (Paradise Must Be Here) (It Must Be Heaven), by renowned Palestinian director Elia Suleiman. The plot follows the character's displacement, resonates beyond Palestine and portrays a despair felt throughout the world, with a good dose of humor. In Florianópolis, the film is showing at Paradigma Cine Arte.

Winner of the Special Mention at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, in France, the feature is also celebrated for being Palestine's representative in the shortlist of the 2020 Oscars for Best International Film.

The film follows the trajectory of Elia Suleiman - who is the director playing himself - as he leaves Palestine in search of a new home. The expectation for a new life turns into a comedy of errors and unusual situations with the police, modernity and prejudice. No matter how far he goes, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of his homeland.

• 

• 

The repercussion of the long international and national press is positive. An example of this is the article published in The Hollywood Reporter, which describes: “Elia Suleiman uses her own face and body to express the Palestinian soul in her films. Suleiman's gift is his ability to convey this discomfort in a lighthearted way, making each scene a fun encounter between the common man and the craziness around him.”. The newspaper also points out that the production is about “a love letter to Palestine written by present-day Chaplin. "

With a strong autobiographical nature, the most recent work by award-winning director Elia Suleiman, who also wrote the script, represents a comic saga that explores identity and nationality, raising the fundamental question: “where is the place we can call home?” .

"Heaven Must Be Here” shows common everyday situations of people around the world living in a climate of global geopolitical tension. And violence erupting in one place is similar to violence erupting in another. Images and sounds containing this violence or tension are being felt in all world centers and not, as in the past, just somewhere in the most distant corners of the world. There are checkpoints in each country at airports and shopping malls” - reports Elia Suleiman.

Suleiman has invested in a humor that comes from the construction of the image and gags visuals, without the support of dialogues and explanations. The proposal is to make free sketches, which gradually form a political panorama.

---

*The film is initially part of Paradigma Cine Arte's programming from January 23 to 29. For the complete schedule of movie theaters in Florianópolis and region click here.

More information about the film, director and distributors can be consulted. on this link.

---

Subject: William Schütz.
Contact: redacao.wilianschutz@gmail.com
Images: Disclosure. Distribution: Imovision.