Hany Abu-Assad

Hany Abu-Assad (; born 11 October 1961) is a Palestinian and Dutch filmmaker, twice nominated for Academy Awards, in 2006 for the psychological drama Paradise Now, and in 2013 for the drama Omar. Nominated more for more than 50 international film awards, he has won 21 prizes, including a Golden Globe, Cannes Special Jury Prize and best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Early life

Abu-Assad was born into a Palestinian family on 11 October 1961 in Nazareth. In 1981, he moved 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 but identifies as a Palestinian from Palestine.

Abu-Assad was inspired to pursue a career in cinema after watching a film by Palestinian filmmaker Michel Khleifi. He initially started as a television producer working on commissions for Channel 4 and the BBC. In 1990, he co-founded Ayloul Film Productions with Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi.

Film career

Abu-Assad's Palestinian identity and the struggle for justice are central to his body of work, but his journey in the world of film began in the Netherlands. He wrote and directed his first short film, Paper House in 1992 for NOS Dutch television. It depicted the efforts of a young Palestinian boy to build a dreamhouse after his own family home had been destroyed, and won several international film festival awards.

The first feature film he directed was in Dutch, Het 14de kippetje (The Fourteenth Chick), in 1998. He co-wrote the script based on a story by writer Arnon Grunberg. It followed a Palestinian taxi driver picking up passengers between checkpoints in the West Bank, including Hanan Ashrawi. Abu-Assad went on to direct the feature film, Rana's Wedding (2002), produced as a Dutch-Palestinian collaboration & filmed in Ramallah and Jerusalem. The following year, Paradise Now won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received an Academy Award nomination in the same category. It was the first time a film submitted by Palestine for Best International Feature Film was nominated at the Academy Awards.

His 2013 film Omar was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize. In 2014, Omar was the Palestinian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, and was nominated for the award. He is the only Palestinian director to achieved this distinction, and twice. The film also won the award for Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

In 2014, Abu-Assad was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2018, he joined the film jury for ShortCutz Amsterdam.

Filmography

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 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