The Band's Visit (2007)
"Bikur Ha-Tizmoret" (original title)

A band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.

Director:

Eran Kolirin

Writer:

Eran Kolirin

Stars:

Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri

46 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Sasson Gabai	...	Lieutenant-colonel Tawfiq Zacharya
Ronit Elkabetz	...	Dina
Saleh Bakri	...	Haled
Khalifa Natour	...	Simon
Rubi Moskovitz	...	Itzik
Uri Gavriel	...	Avrum
Imad Jabarin	...	Major-general Camal Abdel Azim
Hilla Sarjon	...	Iris
Shlomi Avraham	...	Papi
Tarik Kopty	...	Iman (as Tarak Kopty)
Rinat Matatov	...	Yula
Tomer Yosef	...	Ars
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ahuva Keren	...	Lea
François Khell	...	Makram
Hisham Khoury	...	Fauzi

Storyline

On an ordinary day, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel from Egypt for a cultural event, only find there is no delegation to meet them, nor any arrangements to get to their destination of Petah Tiqva. When they find their own ride, they arrive instead at the remote town of Beit Hatikva. Stuck there until the next morning's bus, the band, lead by the repressed Tawfiq Zacharaya, gets help from the worldly lunch owner, Dina, who offers to put them up for the night. As the band settles in as best it can, each of the members attempts to get along with the natives in their own way. What follows is a special night of quiet happenings and confessions as the band makes its own impact on the town and the town on them.

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Plot Keywords:

band | israel | police | egyptian | egypt | 

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Taglines:

They came, they saw, they bridged a divide.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [us]

Country:

Israel USA France

Language:

Hebrew Arabic English

Release Date:

13 September 2007 (Israel)

Also Known As:

The Band's Visit

Filming Locations:

Yeruham, Negev Desert, Israel

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$67,492 (USA) (8 February 2008)

Gross:

$3,053,823 (USA) (4 July 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

July August Productions, Bleiberg Entertainment, Sophie Dulac Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was selected to be Israel's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of The 80th Annual Academy Awards, but it was disqualified by AMPAS because more than 50% of the film's dialogue was found to be in English, as opposed to Arabic and Hebrew. After an unsuccessful appeal, Israel sent Beaufort instead.

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Goofs

When Tewfiq tells Khaled they have a long day tomorrow in Dina's apartment, Tewfiq is shown putting his hand on Khaled's shoulder in the shot from behind Khaled, but in the shot from the front, Tewfiq is seen holding Khaled's upper arm.

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Connections

Features The Policeman (1971)

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Soundtracks

"Summertime"
(From opera "Porgy and Bess", 1935)
Music by George Gershwin
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward

User Reviews

What a surprisingly fab movie

As a dedicated husband of a BAFTA voting member, we trawl through 100+ DVD's at this time of year. The Hollywood movies all blur into muchness, but then this film comes along without any fancy marketing blurb, no fancy box, just a DVD in a plastic sleeve. We put it in and said we would give it 10 minutes, and spent the next 100 minutes or so spellbound and laughing our socks off! The acting was simply wonderful, the comic situations and timing were redolent of "The Office", and the political analogies were intriguing, The soundtrack was the best of any 2007 movie imho. It gets our nomination for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Soundtrack, with further nominations for the "Dina" and "Tewfiq" actors plus a vote for others in the band in the supporting actor category.

Try to see it if you can!