Hany Abu-Assad

Hany Abu-Assad (Arabic: هاني أبو أسعد‎, born 11 October 1961) is a Dutch-Palestinian film director. His film Paradise Now, about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006. His 2013 film Omar is currently nominated for the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

Early life

Abu-Assad was born in Nazareth, Israel in 1961 and emigrated to the Netherlands in 1980. After having studied aerodynamics in Haarlem, he worked as an airplane engineer in the Netherlands for several years. Abu-Assad entered the world of cinema and television as a producer. He formed Ayloul Film Productions in 1990.

Film career

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 2006 his film Paradise Now won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign language film, and it received an Oscar-nomination in the same category. In 2005 Paradise Now won the Golden Calf for best Dutch film.

Abu-Assad is currently editing a film entitled The Courier with Arclight Films and is in development on several projects. His 2013 film Omar was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival^[1] where it won the Jury Prize.^[2] In 2014, Omar was announced as the Palestinian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, and has been nominated for the award.

Filmography

• Paper House (1992) - 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)

Documentaries

• 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

References

Further reading

• Provan, Alexander (2006). "The Humanist in Hany Abu-Assad". SOMA Magazine (October 2006). 

External links

• Hany Abu-Assad at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Courier IMDB page"
• "It was a joke I was even nominated" The Guardian
• "I risked my life to make this movie" The Telegraph
• "Ticket to Paradise?" Christianity Today