Interview: Rakan Mayasi – Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep | 2026 Cannes Film Festival

Set within a tightly knit Bedouin community in Lebanon, Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep unfolds less as a traditional drama than as a sensory experience, gradually revealing the constrained realities faced by women navigating systems of patriarchy, family obligation, and communal expectations. With its slow intimate cinema of Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Abbas Kiarostami vibes, Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi looks at conflict and confrontations through everyday routines and rituals. Working extensively with non-professional actors, the film questions free will, resistance, female autonomy, and survival. Following the film’s premiere, I sat down with Rakan Mayasi to discuss the relationship between cinema and resistance, the film’s intricate visual grammar, and the role of humor within tragedy.