Eran Kolirin’s Let It Be Morning has been acquired by the Cohen Media Group for release in North America. It will be available in theaters and digital platforms in the US and Canada in 2022.
Let It Be Morning, a smart, funny and dark story of an Arab hi-tech worker who visits his home village for a wedding and gets trapped there after the army seals it off, won the Ophir Award for Best Picture, which makes it Israel’s official submission for a nomination for a Best International Feature Oscar (the category that used to be called Best Foreign Language Film).
It swept this year’s Ophir Awards, also winning Best Director and Best Screenplay for Kolirin, Best Actor for Alex Bakri, Best Actress for Juna Suleiman and Best Supporting Actor for Ehab Elias Salami. It also won the Best Israeli Feature award at the Haifa International Film Festival. Based on a novel by Sayed Kashua, it had its world premiere at Cannes, in the Un Certain Regard section. It had its US premiere as the opening-night movie at the Other Israel Film Festival earlier this month. Due to the pandemic, it has not yet been released in Israel but it has generated a great deal of positive word-of-mouth at preview screenings.
It also generated controversy when some of its Palestinian cast members refused to promote the movie at Cannes and did not show up to receive their Ophir Awards, releasing statements critical of the Israeli government, which contributed money to the film.
Kolirin is well known internationally because his 2007 movie, The Band’s Visit, was a hit with audiences around the world, winning dozens of awards, including European Film Awards, and became the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway show. Many thought it had a chance to become the first Israeli movie to win a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar but it was disqualified from consideration because too much of its dialogue was in English.
Let It Be Morning is a Dori Media production and was made in collaboration with Les Films du Poisson. It was produced by Nadav Palti, Ra’anan Gershoni, Keren Michael, Tami Mozes Borovitz and Yoni Paran.
“Let It Be Morning is a true labor of love and a very unique collaboration,” said Kolirin. “I’m humbled and thrilled to be working with Cohen Media on its US release.”
Cohen Media Group Chairman and CEO Charles S. Cohen said, “Let It Be Morning is a must-see film about the state of our world today, and we are thrilled to bring it to the wide audience it deserves.”