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Lemon Tree (film)
Encyclopedia
Lemon Tree is a 2008
Israeli
drama movie directed
by Eran Riklis
and codirected by his cousin Ira Riklis. It stars Hiam Abbass
, Ali Suliman
, Danny Leshman, Rona Lipaz-Michael, Tarik Kopty, Amos Lavi, Lana Zreik and Amnon Wolf. The film describes the legal efforts of a Palestinian
widow
to stop the Israeli Defense Minister, her next door neighbor, from destroying the lemon trees in her family farm. At the same time, she develops a human bond with the minister's wife. It was released in Israel on 27 March 2008, and it received a tepid response from Israeli audiences. It was released internationally through IFC Films
on 17 April 2009. From there, the film has achieved critical success and it has received nominations for several awards such as 'Best Actress' and 'Best Screenwriter' at the European Film Awards.
and the West Bank
, with the building sitting on the Israeli side just next to the dividing line. The Israeli Secret Service views the neighboring lemon grove of Salma Zidane (Hiam Abbass
), a Palestinian widow whose family has cared for the area for generations, as a threat to the Minister and his wife. The security forces soon set up a guard post and a barbed wire
fence around the grove. They then obtain an order to uproot the lemon trees.
Salma feels isolated given that her son has moved to Washington, D.C.
and her daughters are now married. The local village elder Abu Kamal (Makram Khoury) advises her to give in, but Salma decides to work with the young lawyer Ziad Daud (Ali Suliman
). They take their case all the way to the Supreme Court. Mira Navon (Rona Lipaz-Michael), the minister's wife, sympathizes with Salma. The court case receives notable media attention, and Mira gives a news interview that her husband regrets. Mira believes that the Israeli military overreacted, and she also shares Salma's sense of personal loneliness
. A complex, though not always evident, human bond develops between the two women. As the Palestinian cause is dismissed, Mira moves out, and a concrete wall is built between Salma's land and the Defense Minister's house. A final camera shot reveals the lemon trees to have been cut down.
covered personal relationships between Arabs and Middle Eastern Jews in his previous films The Syrian Bride
and Cup Final (film)
. The former film, which also starred Hiam Abbass
, achieved widespread success in Israel as well as with international audiences after its 2004 release. This boosted Riklis's expectations for the future.
The plot of Lemon Tree was based on a real life incident. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
moved to the border within Israel and the occupied territories
and security forces began cutting down the olive trees beside his house, arguing that it could be used by terrorists as a hiding place. The Palestinian family who owned the trees sued the minister and took the case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. They lost, and their trees had to be cut down. Riklis watched a news blurb about the case online. He then developed the story further in a fictional setting. Riklis explicitly designed the protagonist's part for actress Hiam Abbass
.
The characters in the film speak Arabic
and Hebrew
. Riklis' personal company, Eran Riklis Production, filmed the movie. It was shot in the cities of Kalkilya and Ramallah
and the Jalazone
refugee camp
in Palestine
as well on location at and around the Supreme Court of Israel building in Sha'arey Mishpat Street, Jerusalem. Salon.com
film critic Andrew O'Hehir has commented that "Riklis forges into areas other Israeli filmmakers won't venture".
. He has said that he created a 'fairy tale quality
' to the film in which the audience can sympathize with all of the people featured in it. He stated that "I wanted to populate this film with a lot of faces and give each character their own moment of grace, even when, on the surface, it's one of the 'bad guys,' so to speak... This film does address the ugly side of occupation perhaps, yet no blood is spilled." A fictional representation of the Israeli-West bank separation wall
punctuates the film throughout.
Critic Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com
has argued that Riklis "depicts all versions of Middle Eastern authority with a cheerful, agnostic cynicism", portraying the Palestinian government
as "corrupt and obsessed with status and protocol" and the Israeli government as "hypocritical and mindlessly bureaucratic." V.A. Musetto of The New York Post argued that the movie expresses Riklis' opposition to Israeli policies of confiscation of Palestinian land. Critic Hugh Hart of San Francisco Chronicle
thought that the movie displayed a natural sympathy towards its protagonist. Mark Jenkins of NPR commented that some of the ironic
moments in the film depicted Palestinian resistance to Israelis as "more concerned with preserving machismo than with producing results".
The New York Times
wrote that
Riklis tried not to make the film explicitly feminist
, with the female characters portrayed more sympathetically than the male ones. However, he has said that it can be interpreted that way by viewers. NPR's Mark Jenkins has stated that the film's bittersweet ending depicted the difficult status of women in Palestine as well as Palestinian-Israeli relations. Chris Cabin of the AMC Network criticized the film as being too "fem-centric" and as having a uniformly negative treatment of its male characters.
on 17 April 2009. The film has been very well received internationally. Rotten Tomatoes
calculated a critical score of 91 and describes the consensus as: "A positive and personal Israeli film that offers an understated and thought-provoking vision of the West Bank troubles." It also earned an average critical score of 73, a generally favorable response, on Metacritic
.
The New York Times
named it a 'Critics Pick' of 2009. Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com
praised the film and called its production a sign "of hope in the impenetrable impasse of the contemporary Middle East". Benjamin Secher of The Daily Telegraph
labeled it "absorbing, sensitive, beautifully-shot" and drew favorable comparisons with Erin Brockovich
. Mark Jenkins of National Public Radio stated that it featured "subtle performances by its striking stars" and served as a parable
about border issues. AMC's
Chris Cabin criticized the movie, arguing that its director "seems not to have the faintest idea of how to properly approach the subject", because the film is, in Cabin's view, "unabashedly pro-Palestine".
, the film has brought in a total of $6,628,437 worldwide. In the United States, it brought in $569,672 in its seventeen week run. It premiered on April 17, 2009.
The film performed poorly with Israeli audiences despite the positive reaction in other areas. Riklis has said that Israelis have the "false impression" that the film is pro-Palestinian and polemical. The Palestinian reaction has been very positive, according to Riklis. He expected a far more positive reception in Israel given the success of his previous film, The Syrian Bride
, in 2004. The film did receive praise from Hannah Brown of The Jerusalem Post
, who stated that "it's hard to ask for more" and "you will leave the theater craving a glass of the lemonade Salma prepares so lovingly in several scenes". Ha'aretz also praised the movie before its release.
, Abbass won for 'Best Performance by an Actress' and Riklis won, along with collaborator Suha Arraf, for 'Best Screenplay'. Arraf and Riklis were nominated for 'Best Screenwriter' at the European Film Awards, and Abbass was nominated for 'Best Actress'. In the Israeli Film Academy, Abbass won for 'Best Actress'. The film's Miguel Markin was nominated for 'Best Art Direction', Rona Doron for 'Best Costume Design', Tova Asher for 'Best Editing', Habib Shadah for 'Best Music', Gil Toren and As Milo for 'Best Sound', and Riklis for 'Best Director'.
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
Israeli
Cinema of Israel
Cinema of Israel refers to movie production in Israel since its founding in 1948. Most Israeli films are produced in Hebrew. Israel has been nominated for more Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film than any other country in the Middle East....
drama movie directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Eran Riklis
Eran Riklis
Eran Riklis is an Israeli filmmaker. His films include Cup Final , The Syrian Bride , and Lemon Tree . He was born in 1954 and he studied at the National Film and Television School in England. He is married to Dina Riklis and they have two children, a daughter, Tammy, and a son, Jonathan...
and codirected by his cousin Ira Riklis. It stars Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass , also known as Hiam Abbas or Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and an Arab citizen of Israel. She is known for her roles in the films Satin Rouge , Haifa , Paradise Now , The Syrian Bride , Free Zone , Dawn of the World , The Visitor , Lemon Tree , and Amreeka...
, Ali Suliman
Ali Suliman
-Career:He starred in Paradise Now, which won the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Film. In 2007, he appeared in the movie The Kingdom alongside Jamie Foxx. In the movie Lemon Tree he plays a lawyer, and the role of Omar Sadiki in the movie Body of Lies....
, Danny Leshman, Rona Lipaz-Michael, Tarik Kopty, Amos Lavi, Lana Zreik and Amnon Wolf. The film describes the legal efforts of a Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
to stop the Israeli Defense Minister, her next door neighbor, from destroying the lemon trees in her family farm. At the same time, she develops a human bond with the minister's wife. It was released in Israel on 27 March 2008, and it received a tepid response from Israeli audiences. It was released internationally through IFC Films
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....
on 17 April 2009. From there, the film has achieved critical success and it has received nominations for several awards such as 'Best Actress' and 'Best Screenwriter' at the European Film Awards.
Plot
The Israeli Defense Minister Israel Navon (Doron Tavory) moves to a house on the border between IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, with the building sitting on the Israeli side just next to the dividing line. The Israeli Secret Service views the neighboring lemon grove of Salma Zidane (Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass , also known as Hiam Abbas or Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and an Arab citizen of Israel. She is known for her roles in the films Satin Rouge , Haifa , Paradise Now , The Syrian Bride , Free Zone , Dawn of the World , The Visitor , Lemon Tree , and Amreeka...
), a Palestinian widow whose family has cared for the area for generations, as a threat to the Minister and his wife. The security forces soon set up a guard post and a barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
fence around the grove. They then obtain an order to uproot the lemon trees.
Salma feels isolated given that her son has moved to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and her daughters are now married. The local village elder Abu Kamal (Makram Khoury) advises her to give in, but Salma decides to work with the young lawyer Ziad Daud (Ali Suliman
Ali Suliman
-Career:He starred in Paradise Now, which won the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Film. In 2007, he appeared in the movie The Kingdom alongside Jamie Foxx. In the movie Lemon Tree he plays a lawyer, and the role of Omar Sadiki in the movie Body of Lies....
). They take their case all the way to the Supreme Court. Mira Navon (Rona Lipaz-Michael), the minister's wife, sympathizes with Salma. The court case receives notable media attention, and Mira gives a news interview that her husband regrets. Mira believes that the Israeli military overreacted, and she also shares Salma's sense of personal loneliness
Loneliness
Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person feels a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. However, it is a subjective experience...
. A complex, though not always evident, human bond develops between the two women. As the Palestinian cause is dismissed, Mira moves out, and a concrete wall is built between Salma's land and the Defense Minister's house. A final camera shot reveals the lemon trees to have been cut down.
Production details
Director Eran RiklisEran Riklis
Eran Riklis is an Israeli filmmaker. His films include Cup Final , The Syrian Bride , and Lemon Tree . He was born in 1954 and he studied at the National Film and Television School in England. He is married to Dina Riklis and they have two children, a daughter, Tammy, and a son, Jonathan...
covered personal relationships between Arabs and Middle Eastern Jews in his previous films The Syrian Bride
The Syrian Bride
The Syrian Bride is a 2004 film directed by Eran Riklis. The story deals with a Druze wedding and the troubles the politically unresolved situation creates for the personal lives of the people in and from the village...
and Cup Final (film)
Cup Final (film)
Cup Final is a 1991 Israeli film set during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel.-Plot:A young Israeli soldier, Cohen, is kidnapped by a group of Palestinian fighters who hold him as an hostage during the conflict...
. The former film, which also starred Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass , also known as Hiam Abbas or Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and an Arab citizen of Israel. She is known for her roles in the films Satin Rouge , Haifa , Paradise Now , The Syrian Bride , Free Zone , Dawn of the World , The Visitor , Lemon Tree , and Amreeka...
, achieved widespread success in Israel as well as with international audiences after its 2004 release. This boosted Riklis's expectations for the future.
The plot of Lemon Tree was based on a real life incident. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
Shaul Mofaz
Lt. General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli politician who serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs And Defense Committee at the Knesset...
moved to the border within Israel and the occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
and security forces began cutting down the olive trees beside his house, arguing that it could be used by terrorists as a hiding place. The Palestinian family who owned the trees sued the minister and took the case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. They lost, and their trees had to be cut down. Riklis watched a news blurb about the case online. He then developed the story further in a fictional setting. Riklis explicitly designed the protagonist's part for actress Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass , also known as Hiam Abbas or Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and an Arab citizen of Israel. She is known for her roles in the films Satin Rouge , Haifa , Paradise Now , The Syrian Bride , Free Zone , Dawn of the World , The Visitor , Lemon Tree , and Amreeka...
.
The characters in the film speak Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. Riklis' personal company, Eran Riklis Production, filmed the movie. It was shot in the cities of Kalkilya and Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
and the Jalazone
Jalazone
Jalazone is a Palestinian refugee camp in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located seven kilometers north of Ramallah and adjacent to the village of Jifna. It was established in 1949, following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, on 253 dunams of Jifna's land...
refugee camp
Refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, or NGOs.Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu...
in Palestine
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
as well on location at and around the Supreme Court of Israel building in Sha'arey Mishpat Street, Jerusalem. Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
film critic Andrew O'Hehir has commented that "Riklis forges into areas other Israeli filmmakers won't venture".
Subject material
Riklis designed the film to be essentially apolitical, focusing on character development rather than exploring the issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflictIsraeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
. He has said that he created a 'fairy tale quality
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
' to the film in which the audience can sympathize with all of the people featured in it. He stated that "I wanted to populate this film with a lot of faces and give each character their own moment of grace, even when, on the surface, it's one of the 'bad guys,' so to speak... This film does address the ugly side of occupation perhaps, yet no blood is spilled." A fictional representation of the Israeli-West bank separation wall
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
punctuates the film throughout.
Critic Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
has argued that Riklis "depicts all versions of Middle Eastern authority with a cheerful, agnostic cynicism", portraying the Palestinian government
Palestinian government
-Organizations:These organizations are claiming or executing authority over the Palestinian territories and people*Palestine Liberation Organization, the official representative of the Palestinian people before the international community...
as "corrupt and obsessed with status and protocol" and the Israeli government as "hypocritical and mindlessly bureaucratic." V.A. Musetto of The New York Post argued that the movie expresses Riklis' opposition to Israeli policies of confiscation of Palestinian land. Critic Hugh Hart of San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
thought that the movie displayed a natural sympathy towards its protagonist. Mark Jenkins of NPR commented that some of the ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
moments in the film depicted Palestinian resistance to Israelis as "more concerned with preserving machismo than with producing results".
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that
Riklis tried not to make the film explicitly feminist
Feminist film theory
Feminist film theory is theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the film elements analysed and their theoretical underpinnings.-History:...
, with the female characters portrayed more sympathetically than the male ones. However, he has said that it can be interpreted that way by viewers. NPR's Mark Jenkins has stated that the film's bittersweet ending depicted the difficult status of women in Palestine as well as Palestinian-Israeli relations. Chris Cabin of the AMC Network criticized the film as being too "fem-centric" and as having a uniformly negative treatment of its male characters.
Reception
The film was released within Israel on 27 March 2008, and it was released internationally through IFC FilmsIFC Films
IFC Films is an American film distribution company based in New York, owned by AMC Networks. It distributes independent films and documentaries under the IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. It operates the IFC Center....
on 17 April 2009. The film has been very well received internationally. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
calculated a critical score of 91 and describes the consensus as: "A positive and personal Israeli film that offers an understated and thought-provoking vision of the West Bank troubles." It also earned an average critical score of 73, a generally favorable response, on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
named it a 'Critics Pick' of 2009. Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
praised the film and called its production a sign "of hope in the impenetrable impasse of the contemporary Middle East". Benjamin Secher of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
labeled it "absorbing, sensitive, beautifully-shot" and drew favorable comparisons with Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
. Mark Jenkins of National Public Radio stated that it featured "subtle performances by its striking stars" and served as a parable
Parable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
about border issues. AMC's
AMC (TV network)
AMC is a cable television specialty channel that primarily airs movies, along with a limited amount of original programming. The letters originally stood for American Movie Classics; however since 2002, the full name has been deemphasized as a result of a major shift in programming...
Chris Cabin criticized the movie, arguing that its director "seems not to have the faintest idea of how to properly approach the subject", because the film is, in Cabin's view, "unabashedly pro-Palestine".
Box office
According to Box Office MojoBox Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
, the film has brought in a total of $6,628,437 worldwide. In the United States, it brought in $569,672 in its seventeen week run. It premiered on April 17, 2009.
The film performed poorly with Israeli audiences despite the positive reaction in other areas. Riklis has said that Israelis have the "false impression" that the film is pro-Palestinian and polemical. The Palestinian reaction has been very positive, according to Riklis. He expected a far more positive reception in Israel given the success of his previous film, The Syrian Bride
The Syrian Bride
The Syrian Bride is a 2004 film directed by Eran Riklis. The story deals with a Druze wedding and the troubles the politically unresolved situation creates for the personal lives of the people in and from the village...
, in 2004. The film did receive praise from Hannah Brown of The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, who stated that "it's hard to ask for more" and "you will leave the theater craving a glass of the lemonade Salma prepares so lovingly in several scenes". Ha'aretz also praised the movie before its release.
Awards
In the Berlin Film Festival, Riklis won a 'Panorama Audience Award'. In the Asia Pacific Screen AwardsAsia Pacific Screen Awards
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is an international cultural initiative of the State Government of Queensland, Australia, through Events Queensland, to honour and promote the films, actors, directors, and cultures of Asia-Pacific to a global audience and to realise the objectives of UNESCO to...
, Abbass won for 'Best Performance by an Actress' and Riklis won, along with collaborator Suha Arraf, for 'Best Screenplay'. Arraf and Riklis were nominated for 'Best Screenwriter' at the European Film Awards, and Abbass was nominated for 'Best Actress'. In the Israeli Film Academy, Abbass won for 'Best Actress'. The film's Miguel Markin was nominated for 'Best Art Direction', Rona Doron for 'Best Costume Design', Tova Asher for 'Best Editing', Habib Shadah for 'Best Music', Gil Toren and As Milo for 'Best Sound', and Riklis for 'Best Director'.
See also
- Israeli West Bank barrierIsraeli West Bank barrierThe Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
- The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
- Israeli films of the 2000sIsraeli films of the 2000s- Overview :The first decade of the 21st century has brought a prosperous era to Israeli cinema, both for drama and documentary. The Israeli cinama audience grew, critics praised more films, and several Israeli films gained respect and won awards in film festivals around the world...
- Shaul MofazShaul MofazLt. General Shaul Mofaz is an Israeli politician who serves as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs And Defense Committee at the Knesset...
- Cup Final (film)Cup Final (film)Cup Final is a 1991 Israeli film set during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel.-Plot:A young Israeli soldier, Cohen, is kidnapped by a group of Palestinian fighters who hold him as an hostage during the conflict...
(1991) - The Syrian BrideThe Syrian BrideThe Syrian Bride is a 2004 film directed by Eran Riklis. The story deals with a Druze wedding and the troubles the politically unresolved situation creates for the personal lives of the people in and from the village...
(2004)
External links
- Lemon Tree review in Patrol Magazine
- Lemon Tree review in Wide Screen journal
- Interview with Eran Riklis