The family at the center of Ameen Nayfeh’s debut feature experiences the personal dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian divide as both metaphor and reality. From the West Bank home where he sleeps, Mustafa (Ali Suliman) can see across the 200 meters to the apartment in Israel where his wife, Salwa (Lana Zreik), lives with their three children. They wink goodnight by flashing porch lights. By day, to earn a living and to see the family, Mustafa braves Israeli security, with its long lines and chance rejections. When he resorts to the services of a people smuggler, the van is a kind of Palestinian ship of fools, of which kind but desperate Mustafa is the anchor. The thoughtful, internationally acclaimed Arab-Israeli actor Ali Suliman similarly ballasts this film’s many twists—really, just another day in the Occupied Territories. The film won the audience prize at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.—Judy Bloch

In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles