Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid was tipped as a last minute entry for the Palme d’Or competition but that didn’t pan out and Directors’ Fortnight selection committee were all to happy to make room for “Yes” – the filmmaker’s fifth feature film. Having visited the Croisette with 2014’s “The Kindergarten Teacher,” in the Critics’ Week section and with 2021’s “Ahed’s Knee” (the post pandemic edition saw him prize), this sees him move over the JW Marriott screening lieu. Word on the street is the run time is north of three hours. Shot in Tel-Aviv, this is produced by of Les Films du Bal’s Judith Lou Lévy, Chi-Fou-Mi Productions’ Hugo Sélignac and Antoine Lafon. Here is the synopsis:
Starring Ariel Bronz, Efrat Dor, Naama Preis and Alexey Serebryakov, this is set in the aftermath of the October 7, Hamas attacks on Israel, and sees Y., a jazz musician struggling to make ends meet, and his wife Jasmine, a dancer, sell their art, souls and bodies to the elite, and bring pleasure and consolation to a bleeding nation. Soon, Y. is given a mission of the highest importance: setting to music a new national anthem.
