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Lemon tree (Etz limon) - Hiam Abbass, Ali Suliman, Rona Lipaz-Michael, Eran Riklis

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Salma (Hiam Abbass), a Palestinian widow, has to stand up against her new neighbour, the Israeli Defence Minister (Doron Tavory), when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove, on the green line border between Israel and the West bank. The Israeli security forces are quick to declare that Salma‘s trees pose a threat to the Minister's safety and issue orders to uproot them. Together with Ziad Daud (Ali Suliman), her young Palestinian lawyer, Salma goes all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court to try and save her trees. Her struggle raises the interest of Mira Navon (Rona Lipaz-Michael), the Defence minister's wife, who is trapped in her new home and in an unhappy life. Despite their differences and the borders between them the two women develop an invisible bond, while forbidden ties grow stronger between Salma and Ziad. Salma's legal and personal journey lead her deep into the complex, dark and sometimes funny chaos of the ongoing struggle in the Middle East, in which all players find themselves alone in their struggle to survive.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Lemon tree (Etz limon) theatrical one sheet image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film drama Israel neighbour legal Palestine court tree Hebrew Arabic soldier government lemon grove challenge

Persons of interest

Hiam Abbass .... Salma Zidane
Doron Tavory .... Defence Minister Israel Navon
Ali Suliman .... Ziad Daud
Rona Lipaz-Michael .... Mira Navon
Tarik Kopty .... Abu Hussam
Amos Lavi .... Commander Jacob
Amnon Wolf .... Leibowitz
Smadar Jaaron .... Tamar Gera
Danny Leshman .... Private Itamar aka Quickie
Hili Yalon .... Sigi Navon
Linon Banares .... Gilad
Makram Khoury .... Abu Kamal
Loai Nofi .... Nasser Zidane
Ayelet Robinson .... Shelly
Michael Warshaviak .... Braverman
Suha Arraf .... Screenwriter
Eran Riklis .... Screenwriter
Eran Riklis .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Lemon tree (Etz limon) official movie site
Lemon tree (Etz limon) film production notes
Lemon tree (Etz limon) QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2008: Nomination: Best Screenplay (Suha Arraf, Eran Riklis), Best Performance By An Actress (Hiam Abbass)
Awards of the Israeli Film Academy 2008: Nominated: Best Actress (Hiam Abbass), Best Art Direction (Miguel Markin), Best Costume Design (Rona Doron), Best Director (Eran Riklis), Best Editing (Tova Asher), Best Music (Habib Shadah), Best Sound (Gil Toren)
Berlin International Film Festival 2008: Won: Panorama Audience Award (Eran Riklis)

NB: Arabic and Hebrew language dialogue with English language subtitles
Studios and distributors:

Potential Films

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Lemon tree (Etz limon) is as dry and dusty as the Middle East itself, which is to say that it takes too long to get to wherever you're going and you really need a drink when you get there. That said, Hiam Abbass makes this film as watchable as it can be in a world where 30-second TV ads are too long. She has a damaged, stately pride that makes her the perfect image of an indirect victim (ie like the people of Palestine). Ali Suliman is good, too.

The Palestinian Question is a difficult one to answer and this film goes a long way toward putting it (the question) but wisely refrains from trying to (answer it). I do have a solution but I'd just end up before the International Criminal Court charged with crimes against humanity.

Lemon tree (Etz limon) is reserved for cinephiles, intellectuals and poli-sci students.

The drama, Israel movie Lemon tree (Etz limon) is directed by Eran Riklis and stars Hiam Abbass, Ali Suliman, Rona Lipaz-Michael.