Abdallah Abbassi

On the eve of the Israeli attack on Egypt in 1956, Israel declares martial law in all the occupied Arab territories without any previous notice. When the villagers of Kafr Kassem returned home from the fields, they were butchered and killed in what is known today as the massacre of “Kafr Kassem”.

The Yazerli is the foreman who provides work to day laborers. The film’s poetic, non-narrative structure simulates the fractured thoughts of a young boy who is forced to leave school and find work on the docks. Using minimal dialogue but evocative music and sounds, separate vignettes introduce characters the boy encounters in a single workday. The filmmaker explores the child’s vivid imaginary world while tangibly conveying the physical harshness and repressed sexuality of a life spent in poverty and manual labor. Based on a novella by Hanna Mina.