Hany Abu-Assad (; born 11 October 1961) is an Israeli and Dutch film director and screenwriter of Palestinian origin. He has received two Academy Award nominations: in 2006 for his film Paradise Now, and again in 2013 for his film Omar.
Early life
Abu-Assad was born into a Palestinian family in 1961 in
Nazareth, Israel.
In 1981, he immigrated to the Netherlands, where he studied aerodynamics in
Haarlem and worked as an airplane engineer for several years. Abu-Assad holds dual Israeli
and Dutch citizenship.
He was inspired to pursue a career in cinema after watching a film by
Michel Khleifi.
He initially started as a television producer working on commissions for Channel 4 and the
BBC. Abu-Assad founded Ayloul Film Productions in 1990 with the Palestinian filmmaker
Rashid Masharawi.
Film career
In 1992, Abu-Assad wrote and directed his first short film,
Paper House which was made for NOS Dutch television and won several international awards at film festivals in Paris and Jerusalem.
In 1998, he directed his first film, Het 14de kippetje ( The Fourteenth Chick), from a script by writer Arnon Grunberg. Later films include the documentary Nazareth 2000 (2000) and the feature film Rana's Wedding (2002).
In 2002, Ford Transit was nominated for the Ophir Award in the documentary category.
In 2006, his film Paradise Now won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film,
His 2013 film Omar was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival
In 2014, Abu-Assad was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In 2018, Abu-Assad joined the film jury for ShortCutz Amsterdam, an annual film festival promoting short films in Amsterdam.
Filmography
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Paper House (1992, short film) - Director
-
Curfew (1993) - Producer
-
The 13th (1997, short film) - Director
-
The Fourteenth Chick (1998) - Director
-
Rana's Wedding (2002) - Director
-
Paradise Now (2005) - Director
-
The Courier (2012) - Director
-
Omar (2013)
-
The Idol (2015)
-
The Mountain Between Us (2017)
-
Huda's Salon (2021)
Documentaries
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Dar 0 Dour (1990) - Producer
-
Long Days in Gaza (1991) - Producer
-
De Arabieren van 2001 (1999) - Director
-
Het Spijkerkwartier (2000) - Director
-
Nazareth 2000 (2000) - Director
-
Ford Transit (2002) - Director
See also
-
List of Palestinian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Further reading
External links
