Origin: Belgium, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia | Fiction | Director: Rakan Mayasi | 100 minutes

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Yesterday The Eye Didn't Sleep
In the quiet fog of the Bekaa Valley, on the border between Lebanon and Syria, someone sets fire to a truck, and with it a spark of trouble spreads through a tightly woven Bedouin community. Gamra is gone – maybe hiding, maybe running – and her cousin Yasser takes to the roads to find her. The deeper he looks, the more he runs into old grudges and the slow, burning logic of revenge. Back home, his sisters, Jawaher and Rim, are chosen to make things right. They are not asked but offered. One is calm, the other resists, but both know how quickly girls can be traded for peace. This is a film about what happens in the quiet, in fields, behind curtains, inside vans. It is about women who carry too much, men who speak in codes and a land that holds its breath, waiting for something to end…or begin.

YESTERDAY THE EYE DIDN'T SLEEP is the widely aclaimed feature debut of Palestinian director Rakan Mayasi. Shot without a traditional script and featuring a cast of nonprofessional actors, the story is inspired by Mayasi’s grandmother’s story.

Festivals and Awards
World premiere in Un Certain Regard section of 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Caméra d'Or.
Toronto Palestine Film Festival 2026: https://www.tpff.ca/program-2026-2/yesterday-eye-didnt-sleep
Film Festival Gent 2026: https://www.filmfestival.be/en/film/yesterday-the-eye-didnt-sleep
Boston Film Festival 2026: https://bostonpalestinefilmfest.org/films/yesterday-the-eye-didnt-sleep

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