Now that you've unwrapped your gifts and are left with a feeling of "what now?" we have a gift for you.
OK, so we will have to wait to see images of Palestinian star Ali Suliman as Cleopas in Terrence Malick's upcoming Biblical epic with a twist The Way of the Wind. But while the actor was attending the Red Sea IFF, we caught an up close and personal glimpse of Suliman with fellow thespian, the Turkish German Numan Acar when we dropped by their table on the night of the GQ Middle East party on the grounds of the Park Hyatt Jeddah.
Suliman is ever kind, always the tallest man in the room, and a born fashionista. Whether he's in full black tie wear (with those irreverent signature sneakers, of course) on the opening night's red carpet or donning a black thobe with Palestinian embroidery for the Red Sea IFF closing ceremony, Suliman is a sight to behold.
While in Jeddah, he mingled with his numerous fans, called everyone by name as is his typical, kind manner and made everyone he came in contact with feel just a little bit better.
He even took the time to tell us we are doing such a great job at MIME and added, "thank you for all you do for our cinema." When the following day it was time for a fascinating panel featuring his 200 Meters filmmaker Ameen Nayfeh and the film's producer May Odeh, moderated by our own E. Nina Rothe, Suliman dropped by as promised and brought along his fellow juror, Tunisian Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania. The actor of course stars in Nayfeh's touching, powerful story of a father who is trapped on the other side of a separation wall in Occupied Palestine and will stop at nothing to reach his injured son.
If class is keeping one's promises then Suliman is the king of that. And he has a gift for making people feel important in his presence, as anyone who has ever come across him will tell you.
So, we wanted to simply point out the actor's cool fashion sense, whether dressing down in Venice for Mohamed Diab's Amira in 2021 (above), or super glam in Jeddah on jury duty -- Ali Suliman is our fashion icon from the Arab world.
All photos used with permission.
