Hany Abu-Assad

Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961, Nazareth, Israel) is a Palestinian screenwriter, director and producer who studied aerodynamics in the Netherlands, where he spent several years working as an airplane engineer. In 1990 he founded Ayloul Film Productions, and in 1992 he shot his first short film Paper House. After several documentaries about multicultural issues in Europe and the Middle East, and his feature-length debut The Fourteenth Chick (Het 14e kippetje, 1998), he garnered attention with his second feature film Rana’s Wedding (Al qods fee yom akhar, 2002). He then gained further recognition with the political drama Paradise Now (2004), which won the Blue Angel for Best European Film at the 2005 Berlinale. Paradise Now and Ford Transit (2002) were previously shown in Karlovy Vary.

48. MFF Karlovy Vary