Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996)

Original title

سجل اختفاء

Directed by

Elia Suleiman

Genre

drama film

Country

Palestine

Runtime

1h 28m

Rated

10

Rating

6.6 of 10 from 25 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Elia Suleiman plays himself returning to Israel and the West Bank after a long absence. The film strings together loosely connected vignettes and sketches that capture feelings of restlessness and uncertainty about Palestinian statelessness.

meditativeepisodicrestlessquietly absurdcontemplativemelancholicdisjointedobservational

What happens

Chronicle of a Disappearance (Arabic: سجل اختفاء) is a 1996 drama film by Palestinian director and actor Elia Suleiman. Suleiman stars in the film along with his family members, his relatives, and other non-actors. Dhat Productions produced the film. The film features no real storyline or character arc. Suleiman plays himself returning to Israel and the West Bank after a long absence which is followed by a series of barely connected vignettes and sketches, which are intended to convey the feelings of restlessness and uncertainty from Palestinian statelessness. The film's tone varies through these scenes such as "Nazareth Personal Diary", which has a light and domestic tone, and "Jerusalem Political Diary", which has a more ideological tone. Chronicle of a Disappearance was Suleiman's first feature film. It has received international critical acclaim and was shown at the 1996 Venice Film Festival, where it won the award for Best First Film Prize. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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