Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi is having a moment — and he’s using it to put communities on film that have never been there before. In a new interview at the El Gouna Film Festival, where his debut feature plays in competition this week, Mayasi spoke to Variety about his search for unconventional stories.
Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep (Credits: Variety)
A Debut That Shook Cannes
Mayasi’s debut feature “Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep” made its splash in this year’s Un Certain Regard section at Cannes with a powerful, poetic portrait of a Bedouin community in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Inspired by Mayasi’s grandmother, the film follows two women who become pawns in a tribal blood feud, shot in a visionary style that owes much to his mentor Abbas Kiarostami — yet carries its own rhythm and a sensorial, at times almost feverish, point of view.
A Festival Run That Keeps Growing
Since Cannes, the film has been warmly received across the festival circuit. After El Gouna, it heads to Montpellier’s CinéMed, then immediately to the Rome Film Festival in its Best First Feature section. International sales are handled by Salaud Morisset.
Mayasi’s drive to portray communities that have rarely — if ever — appeared on screen is what makes his iconoclastic voice one of the most exciting to watch emerging from the region right now.
Also Read: El Gouna Film Festival 2026: 10 Films to Track, From Cannes Prizewinners to Rising Arab Voices
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
