Rakan Mayasi becomes the sole Palestinian filmmaker in this year's official Cannes selection with his debut feature "Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep," premiering in the Un Certain Regard section. The film eschews traditional screenplay conventions entirely, instead unfolding through improvisation with a real Bedouin family cast as nonprofessional actors.
Mayasi, who trained under legendary filmmakers Abbas Kiarostami and Béla Tarr, drew inspiration from his late grandmother's forced marriage to construct the narrative. Working without a script mirrors the experimental approaches of his mentors, particularly Kiarostami's embrace of documentary-adjacent storytelling and Tarr's dense visual philosophy. The choice to cast authentic Bedouin performers rather than professional actors grounds the film in lived experience and cultural specificity.
Un Certain Regard, Cannes' experimental wing, provides the ideal platform for such unconventional methodology. The section champions formally daring work that defies commercial conventions, making it a natural home for a debut that abandons scripted dialogue and narrative scaffolding. Mayasi's presence marks a notable gap in Hollywood's international festival landscape. Palestinian representation in Cannes' official competition remains minimal, making his selection a meaningful moment for Palestinian cinema on the world stage.
The decision to center his grandmother's trauma within the film connects personal family history to broader patterns of coercion affecting Bedouin women. By letting the story emerge through improvisation with real community members, Mayasi avoids the patronizing narrative traps that often ensnare films about marginalized communities. His training under Kiarostami and Tarr suggests a filmmaker committed to cinematic form as political statement. The result is a work that resists easy categorization, operating simultaneously as personal essay, cultural document, and experimental drama.
"Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep" signals the arrival of a distinctive voice navigating Palestinian cinema's complicated position within global film discourse.