Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996)

Director:

Elia Suleiman

Writer:

Elia Suleiman

Release Date:

8 April 1998 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Elia Suleiman	...	Himself
Ola Tabari	...	Adan
Nazira Suleiman	...	Mother
Fuad Suleiman	...	Father
Ali Suliman	...	The Man
Juliet Mazzawi	...	The aunt
Fawaz Eilemi	...	Abu Adnan
Leonid Alexeenko	...	Priest
Iaha Mouhamad	...	The writer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stephan Abib	...	Radio and Phone Voice
Nawal S. Abu Kartoumah	...	Whisling scene the couple
Mahmoud Abu Khamis	...	Men exanging cigarettes
Bassam Abu Nassar	...	Customer
Ibrahim Abu-Jummah	...	Man with Dentures
Haim Adri	...	Radio and Phone Voice
Walid Aun Ali	...	Whisling scene the couple
Adnan Anu Snieni	...	First car
Itsik Aradge	...	Police
Hani Elias Asous	...	Cafe owner
Ahmad Ayadi	...	Hand sparking kid
Rohi Ayadi	...	Customer
Samer Azar	...	Turban man
Koby Azarly	...	Special Force
Iklas Bajali	...	Death notice readers
Iklhlas Bajali	...	Women in the kitchen
Shatiqa Bajali	...	Women in the kitchen
Boaz Bar	...	Security man
Gil Baruchi	...	Security man
Amir Batheoh	...	Worker 2
Dudu Ben Zaken	...	Security man
Elias Bisharat	...	Cafe customer
Frédéric Bouilleux	...	American colon Hotel
Tabal Bsoul	...	Customer
Samir Buto	...	Cafe customer
Mahmoud Abdul Checkh	...	First car
Jamal M. Daher	...	Third car
Jamel Daher	...	Jamal
Yousra Dibie	...	Women in the kitchen
Awni Elias	...	Worker
Alexander Erlih	...	Police
Gaida Fahoum	...	Girl passing
Uri Frost	...	Radio and Phone Voice
Ruta Gadish	...	Radio and Phone Voice
Sol Habibi	...	Security man
Khalil Hamati	...	Death notice readers
Mahmoud Kadah	...	Men exanging cigarettes
George Khalifi	...	Real Estate Agent
Jihad Khamis	...	Women in the kitchen
Akram Khouri	...	Shop butcher
Nahla Khouri	...	Women in the kitchen
Sergei Klimkin	...	Police
Serjei Landinsky	...	Special Force
Christof Le Du	...	American colon Hotel
Issam Mahli	...	Cafe customer
Riad Masarwi	...	Conference Room Spaeker 1
Maysarat Masri	...	Second car
Ireana Mistrakov	...	Russian waitress
Shereen Nakh	...	Girl passing
Nasim Nakhlih	...	Cafe customer
Hamad Nara	...	Cafe customer
Mouhamad Nara	...	Worker 1
Loutof Nowesser	...	Car repair shop owner
Dimitry Osmolov	...	Police
Igor Paskov	...	Police
Mahmoud Qadah	...	Worker
Imile Qamou	...	Cafe owner
Ramzi El Checkch Qassins	...	Theater Technical
Tareq Qobti	...	Second car
Shoa Rashid	...	Car driver
Eyal Raz	...	Security man
Roni Rock	...	Mobile Home man
Zohaira Sabag	...	Panelist
Bila Saig	...	Women in the kitchen
Imad Samara	...	Theater Technical
Raid Sarsor	...	The Swimmer
Gassan Shama	...	The Waiter
Tareq Shhadi	...	Panelist
Mahmoun Shinawi	...	Worker
Samir Srouj	...	Tourist guide
Ula Tabari	...	ADAN
Basil Tanous	...	Mobile Home man
Caravan Yael	...	Radio and Phone Voice
Reem Zhaharia	...	Karate kid
Seleem Zhaharia	...	Karate kid
Abdalla Zoabi	...	Whisling scene the kid
Azmi Zoabi	...	Customer
Hossen Zoabi	...	Customer
Saib Zreaq	...	Customer

Directed by
Elia Suleiman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Elia Suleiman

Produced by
Assaf Amir	....	producer
Elia Suleiman	....	producer

Cinematography by
Marc-André Batigne

Film Editing by
Anna Ruiz

Casting by
Ula Tabari

Production Design by
Samir Srouji
Hans Ter Elst

Costume Design by
Mira Awad

Sound Department
Stéphane Brunclair	....	sound editor
Jean-Paul Mugel	....	sound

Stunts
Koby Azarly	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Ehab Assal	....	focus puller
Raed Bashir	....	electrician
Ferencz Radnai	....	gaffer

Production Companies

• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)
• Independent Television Service (ITVS)
• Programme MEDIA de la Communauté Européenne

Distributors

• International Film Circuit (1997) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• International Film Circuit (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Kino Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Connaissance du Cinéma (1998) (France) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (Canada)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Palestine | Israel | USA | Germany | France

Language:

Arabic | Hebrew | French | English

Color:

Color

Certification:

France:U | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud)

Company:

Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)

"...the little rest and peace I derive from this very turbulent world is when I'm honest.... Which is what I try to do in the film." (Suleiman)

Kind of a sleeper, but if you like "not Hollywood" -- Children of Heaven (Iranian), My Life as a Dog, etc. -- give this a try. The movie is a series of vignettes or tableaux, some "real life," some fantasy. Often the two intertwine and you can never be sure which is which. On the surface it's about the writer/director's return to his native Palestine, Jerusalem. It's not a documentary and it's not overtly political, but on some level it's both. "I think everything is personal. Everything is political." (Suleiman)

The director himself describes the work as "a very 'Iranian film' because of its crossing of documentary with narrative approach." (Quoted from a post (#30963) by Kia Fri Jul 30 15:34:03 1999 on the Message board of The Jewish-Palestinian Encounter Site.

What I like best about this movie is the slices of Palestinian life, the deliberately over-slow pace as an antidote to the daily Middle-East news: the director and a friend sitting timelessly in front of a "Holy Land" trinket shop, a bunch of guys night fishing on the Mediterranean or Dead Sea, a long and slow descent down an old road into Jerusalem to the sound of an ancient/modern song of reconciliation, scenes from the Suleiman household, peeling garlic and small talk, Mr. Suleiman Sr. arm wrestling the local youth, etc. These things give the movie a timeless beauty.

Politically -- although as Suleiman points out it can't really be separated from the personal -- a French tourist/friend? pontificates to the director about the origins of Mideast violence, perhaps framing our "Orientalist expectation from audiences in places like Europe and the States." (From Invisible City - Coco Fusco talks with director Elia Suleiman about Chronicle of Disappearance. In another scene, a Palestinian women with "good Hebrew" tries to find an apartment. She can "pass" on the phone, but her name is a give-away. And in a series of scenes from a Palestinian theatre piece, the dance is so Jewish one wonders how such a wide gulf has come to separate the two communities. (For an interesting take on Palastinian-Iranian-Jewish 'resemblances', see further discussion from the Message board of The Jewish-Palestinian Encounter Site.)

No Violence. A good film to generate discussion amongst family members. Ideal (essential?)for deconstructing the nightly news view of the world.