Tarik Kopty

Tarik Kopty — Biography

Tarik Kopty was an Arab actor and Israeli citizen born in Nazareth. He appeared in many films that screened at the Cannes Film Festival and, from the 2000s on, in productions shown at international festivals. He died on 24 February 2022 in his native Nazareth, aged 77.

He first worked in education, then in journalism and translation, and from the 1970s he took part in plays and films. In the 2000s he appeared in international productions: The Syrian Bride (2004), The Band's Visit (2007) and Lemon Tree (2008). His role as the neighbour in Elia Suleiman's The Time That Remains (2009) drew worldwide attention. He later played in films such as Man Without a Cell Phone (2010) and The Inheritance (2012).

In the 2010s Zaytoun (2012), Omar (2013) and Dancing Arabs - A Borrowed Identity (2014) are part of his filmography. Suleiman's It Must Be Heaven won the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes in 2019, and in his last years he played Mustafa in The Taste of Apples is Red (2022).