BEVERLY HILLS:

The Palestinian film Paradise Now has won the foreign language film Golden Globe.

Director Hany Abu-Assad told the Beverly Hilton audience that he saw the award not only as recognition of the film, its cast and crew, “but also as a recognition that the Palestinians deserve their liberty and equality unconditionally”.

Paradise Now tackles the issue of Israeli-Palestinian violence in a story about two friends in the West Bank who are dispatched to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

The 90-minute film, released by Warner Independent Pictures, was selected by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association over two films from China, Kung Fu Hustle and Master of the Crimson Armor aka The Promise, as well as France’s Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noel), and South Africa’s Tsotsi.