The Quad is proud to present this retrospective of daring Israeli director Eran Kolirin, featuring a 35mm print of Kolirin's breakout hit as well as two of his films previously unreleased theatrically in the U.S., leading up to the release of his critically-acclaimed Let It Be Morning (opening February 3).
Kolirin quickly shot to worldwide acclaim with his directorial film debut The Band's Visit in 2007, from the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes (where the film won a Jury Prize) to art houses around the globe. The heartwarming cross-cultural comedy following eight Egyptian musicians (members of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra) during their unplanned stay in a small town in Israel struck a chord with critics and audiences alike.
After the success of The Band's Visit, Kolirin did not play it safe. Instead of another tender "fish-out-of-water" crowd-pleaser, the filmmaker made The Exchange, an existentially-grappling, thematically experimental comedy which follows a man visiting his life in real time but from an outside perspective and seeing everyday things in and out of multiple contexts. And continuing to zig while others may have zagged, Kolirin's third film took a more serious route, albeit finding humor and humanity along the way, with the story of an Israeli army vet struggling in his return to civilian life with his family and finding his place in a new Israel in Beyond the Mountains and Hills.
Kolirin's latest film, Let It Be Morning, proves to be a satisfying and exemplary culmination of his previous work, both sensitive and subversive in his deft hands. Adapted from the international bestselling novel by Palestinian author Sayed Kashua, the story follows a Palestinian-born Israeli citizen who finds himself stuck under a military blockade in his hometown after returning for his brother's wedding. Kolirin takes a humanistic approach to a tough situation, finding the absurd in the mundane and the beauty in a bleak world.