The Only Palestinian Filmmaker in Cannes’ Official Selection Made His Debut Without a Script — and with a Real Bedouin Family
Rakan Mayasi's debut feature, "Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep," is the only film by a Palestinian filmmaker in this year's Cannes official selection. The film explores the complexities of intertribal relations and cultural practices within a Bedouin family against a backdrop of ongoing geopolitical tensions. Mayasi's work reflects both personal and collective histories, intertwining themes of honor and the impact of conflict on daily life.
- ▪The film was shot in the Beqaa Valley of eastern Lebanon in March 2025.
- ▪It tells the story of a Bedouin family caught in intertribal blood feuds and cultural practices of honor.
- ▪Mayasi had to add sound effects of war drones during post-production to reflect the reality of life in the region.
- ▪The narrative centers around the fate of two sisters after a tragic accident involving their brother.
- ▪Mayasi's film serves as an ode to his grandmother, who experienced forced marriage at a young age.
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| Original publisher | IndieWire |
| Canonical URL | https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/yesterday-the-eye-didnt-sleep-cannes-interview-1235194830/ |
| Publication time | Tue, 19 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-19T14:04:57.719Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-19T14:04:57.719Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Cluster | OtunehteKUET |
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| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Toward the start of Rakan Mayasi’s stirring debut feature, “Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep” — the only feature in this year’s Cannes official selection by a filmmaker of Palestinian descent — there’s a striking wide shot of women laboring in a fertile field amid the majestic snow-capped Anti-Lebanon mountains. As the still camera zooms in ever so slowly, our attention shifts from one of the film’s leads, Rim (first-time actor Rim Al Mawla), to the constant sound of a war drone in the distance.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at IndieWire.
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