European Film Awards: Hiam Abbass to receive honorary award for her body of work
The European Film Academy will honour the Nazareth-born actress with its European Achievement in World Cinema Award. The ceremony takes place in Athens in January 2027.
Archive image · Photo: Elena Ternovaja / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Actress and director Hiam Abbass will receive the European Film Academy's European Achievement in World Cinema Award. The Academy is recognising her 'unique contribution to the world of film' and her outstanding body of work. The prize will be presented at the 39th European Film Awards in Athens on 16 January 2027.
Abbass was born in Nazareth to a Palestinian family and began her career at the El-Hakawati Palestinian National Theatre in East Jerusalem. She has lived in Paris since the late 1980s. Her first lead role came in 1989 in Ariane Mnouchkine's 'La Nuit miraculeuse', and she has since appeared in more than 100 films.
Her best-known work includes 'Paradise Now', 'The Visitor', Jim Jarmusch's 'The Limits of Control' and 'Blade Runner 2049'. She was nominated for European Actress in 2008 for Eran Riklis' 'Lemon Tree', and more recently appeared in Annemarie Jacir's 'Palestine 36'.