Hiam Abbass will be honored with the 2027 European Achievement in World Cinema Award.
The acclaimed Palestinian actress will receive the honor “for her astounding body of work” at the 39th European Film Awards in Athens in January.
Abbass has been a figure on the European film scene at least since her first lead role in 1989 in Ariane Mnouchkine’s La Nuit Miraculeuse. She has since appeared in more than 100 films across Palestinian, Arab and international productions, in such features as Paradise Now by Hany Abu-Assad, Tom McCarthy’s The Visitor, The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch, Julian Schnabel’s Miral, Blade Runner 2049 by Denis Villeneuv, Gaza Mon Amour by Arab and Tarzan Nasser, and Palestine 36 by Annemarie Jacir.
Abbass is a two-time European Film Award nominee, both times for films directed by Eran Riklis. She received a People’s Choice Award nomination in 2005 for The Syrian Bride and a European Actress nomination in 2008 for Lemon Tree, which also earned her an Asia Pacific Screen Award.
Born in Nazareth to a Palestinian family forced into exile in 1948, Abbass began her acting career at the Palestinian National Theatre El-Hakawati in East Jerusalem, which Israeli authorities frequently closed. During a theater tour of Europe, she decided to leave Palestine for London. She has lived in Paris since the late 1980s.
Abbass’ performance in In Syria by Philippe Van Leeuw earned a nomination at the French Lumière Awards in 2018. On television, she appeared in the Hulu series Ramy and as Marcia Roy, the wife of Brian Cox’s Logan Roy, in the HBO series Succession, for which she received a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2023.
Abbass also works as a director. Her film Inheritance screened at festivals in Gijón and Sao Paulo, and at Venice Days in 2012.
In partnership with the European Film Academy, European culture channel ARTE will present a selection of films starring Abbass. The Syrian Bride will air on television and stream on arte.tv, while Inheritance and Foreign Body will be available online at arte.tv. ARTE co-produced The Syrian Bride and Inheritance.
The 39th European Film Awards will be held on Jan. 16, 2027.