Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep

The evocative debut of a former student of Abbas Kiarostami and Béla Tarr, this is an atmospheric portrait of the patriarchal weight of Bedouin tradition.

In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Bedouin tribes still live according to the dictates of ancient customs, even as Israeli missile strikes sound in the distance and civil war in Syria lurks just over the mountains. Reem and Jawaher are two sisters – one quiet, one loud – who are fated to be married off to appease intertribal politics, regardless of their own desires. Gamra, another young woman, has fled her family and this traditional life in a blaze of glory. The connection to family, culture and land is strong, but – despite the open expanses of valley surrounding them – can often feel oppressive for the women of this community.

Shot without a script and performed by a non-professional cast, Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi’s Cannes-premiering first feature follows a run of acclaimed shorts (including the award-winning Trumpets in the Sky, MIFF 2022) and training from global cinema titans Abbas Kiarostami and Béla Tarr. In Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep, Mayasi draws from his own grandmother’s accounts of being forced into marriage at just 14 to document and interrogate tribal custom, ritual and entrenched patriarchy. Showcasing sublime photography and thrumming with political subtext, this evocative work shows a filmmaker engaged with both landscape and people, alive to a sense of place and the interior lives of those who dwell there.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival