From watering the lemon tree

Movie
German title	From watering the lemon tree
Original title	It must be heaven
Country of production	Germany , France , Canada , Palestine , Turkey
original language	English , French , Arabic
Publishing year	2019
length	102 minutes
Age rating	FSK 0
Rod
Director	Elijah Suleiman
script	Elijah Suleiman
production	Martin Hampel , ; Thanassis Karathanos , ; Michel Merkt , ; Serge Noël , ; Laurine Pelassy , ; Elia Suleiman, ; Edouard Weil
camera	Sofian El Fani
cut	Véronique Lange
occupation
	Gael García Bernal; Ali Suliman; Elijah Suleiman; Grégoire Colin; Holden Wong; Sebastien Beaulac; Vincent Maraval; Alain Dahan; Robert Higden; François Girard; Basil McKenna; Raia Haidar; Ossama Bawardi; Yumi Narita; Kengo Saito;

From the watering of the lemon tree (original title It Must Be Heaven ) is a film by Elia Suleiman , which premiered on May 24, 2019 as part of the Cannes International Film Festival , where it competed for the Palme d' Or and on January 16, 2020 in has come to German cinemas.

action

The old, always a little confused Palestinian director Elia sees a lot of strange, slightly amusing things happening in his hometown Nazareth. He lives in a big house with a garden. Since he wants to make a film, but the financing proves to be difficult because a Palestinian filmmaker is expected to make nothing but a film about the plight of the Palestinians, he flies to Paris, where he does some strange, slightly amusing things again sees. However, Suleiman does not succeed in persuading a western studio to produce his film It Must Be Heaven . Next, Suleiman travels to New York, where he experiences some strange, slightly amusing things again. There he is introduced by a friend to an American film producer, whom he explains that he wants to make a comedy about peace in the Middle East. Eventually he returns to Nazareth, where things are still strange and slightly amusing.

production

It was directed by Elia Suleiman , who also wrote the script. The film was funded by the Franco-German Funding Commission with 300,000 euros.

The film premiered on May 15, 2019 as part of the Cannes International Film Festival , where it competed for the Palme d'Or. In June the film opened the Brussels International Film Festival. On July 3, 2019, it was shown for the first time in Germany at the Munich Film Festival . In September the film was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival 2019 as part of the “Masters” section. On October 2nd the Palestine Cinema Days in Ramallah opened with him . It was screened at the London Film Festival earlier that month . On October 18, the Arabian Sights Film Festival Washington, DC opened with him. In October 2019 it was shown at the Independent FilmFest Osnabrück . It is due to be released in German cinemas on January 9, 2020. A screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival is also planned for January 2020 .

reception

Reviews

The film has so far won over 93 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics and received an average rating of 7.9 out of a possible 10 points.

Michael Meyns from the Gilde deutscher Filmkunsttheater calls Elia Suleiman a silent observer of a world that increasingly seems to be falling apart. This is especially true for his homeland, but this time Suleiman has not made a film that specifically deals with the Middle East conflict: "The neighbor who takes over Elijah's garden on his own initiative refers unmistakably - and also a little unsubtle - to Israel's land grab. which makes the area inhabited by the Palestinians smaller and smaller. "

Thomas Mollernielsen of the Brussels Express writes that the film encourages viewers to assume that its protagonist will never receive Western funding to make his film, and the intended message behind it seems clear to him: “So that a Palestinian makes his voice heard - his true voice and no oriental caricature of it - he must not demand any support from former or current colonial rulers of the Middle East. "Nowhere is the ambiguity of the film as clear as in the title It Must Be Heaven (English for" It must be heaven ") ), if you ask yourself what exactly this "it" refers to, whether to Nazareth, Palestine or the world, says Mollernielsen. The film undoubtedly has its amusing moments, but at the same time it tries to compensate for them by feigning profundity.

Awards (selection)

The film is in a preselection for the European Film Awards 2019 . In addition, It Must Be Heaven by Palestine was submitted as a contribution to the 2020 Academy Awards in the Best International Film category , but was not shortlisted. Below is a selection of other awards and nominations.

European Film Festival Seville 2019