Rakan Mayasi on Shooting ‘Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep’ in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley: ‘I Had to Repeat Takes Twice Because of the Sound of an Explosion Over the Dialogue’

May 21, 2026 8:10am PT Rakan Mayasi on Shooting ‘Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep’ in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley: ‘I Had to Repeat Takes Twice Because of the Sound of an Explosion Over the Dialogue’

By Nick Vivarelli

Plus Icon

Nick Vivarelli

International Correspondent

@NickVivarelli

Latest

• Rakan Mayasi on Shooting ‘Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep’ in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley: ‘I Had to Repeat Takes Twice Because of the Sound of an Explosion Over the Dialogue’ 49 minutes ago
• Film AlUla Bolsters Role as Movie Industry Driver as Saudi Kingdom Raises Its Film Production Rebate to 60% 2 hours ago
• Mick Jagger Set to Star in Alice Rohrwacher’s ‘Three Incestuous Sisters’ Joining Josh O’Connor, Dakota Johnson, Saoirse Ronan, Jessie Buckley, Isabella Rossellini 8 hours ago

See All

Courtesy Cannes Film Festival

Palestinian director Rakan Mayasi is in Cannes with his first feature “Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep,” about two Bedouin sisters named Rim and Jahawer contending with patriarchal rituals in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Shot without a script and with a cast of non-professionals, Mayasi’s feature debut – that premiered in Un Certain Regard – comes after the director, who studied with Abbas Kiarostami and Béla Tarr, made a splash with several shorts. Most notably “Bonboné” that depicted the phenomenon of Palestinian sperm smuggling from Israeli jails and bowed in 2017 in Toronto.

Related Stories

'Bodies (of War),' From Directors Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, Explores Tragic Toll, 'Unexpected Heroism' of Ukraine Conflict