Abstract/Summary

This article adopts an innovative new theoretical approach to questions of geopoliltics in transcultural filmmaking. Examining the work of the Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman and French cultural production (on which the funding and distribution of many of his feature-films has been dependent), the article demonstrates significance by enhancing and re-opening the often ‘unspoken’ dialogue of Franco-Palestinian geopolitical relations which has been frequently designated as historical or political, rather than also and in equal measure, cultural, aesthetic, ethical and personal. Deploying close comparative analysis of Suleiman's mute self-representation within his films and auteurist and absurdist tropes familiar to European literature and art in the twentieth century, the article identifies a transcultural form and sentiment within critical tropes of the Absurd, that can consequently be mapped onto Suleiman's films, and the films' aesthetics, specifically in his recent feature films Divine Intervention (2002) and Le Temps qu'il reste/The Time that Remains (2009). Demonstrating significant awareness and engagement with transnational cinemas, Franco-Palestinian geopolitics and histories, and postcolonial film studies, the article innovatively combines these areas in order to better understand how transcultural identities might become useful tools for widening our understanding of cultural aesthetics.