''Let It Be Morning'' (, ) is a 2021

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Eran Kolirin Eran Kolirin (; born 4 November 1973) is an Israeli screenwriter and film director. In 2004, he directed the feature-length television drama, ''The Long Journey''. His cinema directorial debut, ''The Band's Visit'' (2007), was a critical success, ...

, based on the Hebrew-language novel ''Let It Be Morning'' by Palestinian author

Sayed Kashua Sayed Kashua (, ; born 1975) is an author and journalist. He is a Palestinian people, Palestinian citizen of Israel, born in Tira, Israel. He is known for his books and humorous columns in Hebrew and English. Early life Kashua was born in Tira, ...

. It was produced by

Dori Media Dori may refer to: Places * Dori, Burkina Faso, a city ** Dori Department ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Dori ** Dori Airport * Dori River, in Afghanistan and Pakistan * Dori, Dharwad, India, a village People Given name, nickname or stage name ...

of Israel, in co-production with France's Les Films du Poisson. The cast is predominately Palestinian and most of the language is Arabic. In June 2021, the film was selected to compete in the ''

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

'' section at the

2021 Cannes Film Festival The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 6 to 17 July 2021, after having been originally scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021. American filmmaker Spike Lee was invited to be the president of the jury for the main competition for the fes ...

. The Palestinian cast opposed the classification of the film as "Israeli," and withdrew from the Cannes Film Festival in protest. Israel selected the film as its entry for the Best International Feature Film at the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after their usual late February dat ...

Plot

''Let It Be Morning'' is the story of Sami (Alex Bakri) a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

-born Israeli citizen living in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

who is invited to his brother’s wedding. He has to return to the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

village where he grew up and which he left for other opportunities. After the wedding ends, Sami's hometown is put under a military blockade lockdown by the Israeli government, without explanation. The power is cut and the villagers are trapped by an Israeli roadblock. When chaos erupts amongst the villagers who begin to run out of food and water, Sami is also cut off from the outside world and unable to return to his work in Jerusalem. Trapped in an unexpected situation, he deals with questions about his own identity. As hidden secrets are revealed, Sami watches everything he holds dear begin to fall apart. Written and directed by award-winning Israeli filmmaker

(''

The Band's Visit ''The Band's Visit'' () is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by Eran Kolirin, and starring Saleh Bakri, Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai and Uri Gavriel. It is an international co-production between Israel, France and the United Sta ...

''), the film was adapted from the international best-selling novel of the same name by Palestinian author Sayed Kashua. ''Let It Be Morning'' is a film about a state of siege, both internal and external – centered around a man who has a wall built around his heart. It explores how that inner wall starts coming apart when a physical wall is erected around his hometown.

Cast

* Alex Bakri as Sami * Juna Suleiman as Mira * Salim Daw as Tarek * Ehab Salami as Abed *

Khalifa Natour Khalifa Natour () is an Israeli Arab actor. Born in Qalansawe in 1965-1966, Natour attended Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts where he played Othello and Timon of Athens (among other roles) in student productions. He graduated from Beit Zvi ...

as Mohammed * Samer Bisharat as Aziz * Yara Elham Jarrar as Lina * Izabel Ramadan as Zahera * Doraid Liddawi as Nabil * Maruan Hamdan as Adam * Arin Saba as Rola * Nadib Spadi as Ashraf

Release

The film was selected to be screened in the

section of the 74th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 10 July 2021. The film was theatrically released in Israel by Lev Cinemas on 17 March 2022. It was released in France by Pyramide Distribution on 13 April 2022.

Cohen Media Group Charles Steven Cohen (born February 8, 1952) is an American real estate developer and film distributor. Early life and education Cohen was raised in a Jewish family in Harrison, New York. He is the son of Gloria and Sherman Cohen and nephew to ...

, the US distributors of the film, released ''Let It Be Morning'' in the United States on 3 February 2023.

Reception

Davide Abbatescianni, of ''

The New Arab ''The New Arab'' or ''Al-Araby Al-Jadeed'' () is a London-based pan-Arab news outlet owned by Qatari company Fadaat Media. It launched an Arabic-language website in March 2014 and an Arabic language daily newspaper in September 2014. The Engli ...

'', defined it as "an enjoyable comedy," although "it occasionally suffers from some pacing issues, especially during its last third." He praised its "solid storytelling, the good acting performances and the compelling lead character."

References

External links