As it approaches the one-year anniversary of its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, Eran Riklis’s Zaytoun is finally preparing for a domestic release — and it now has the U.S. trailer to prove it. In addition to Toronto, the film’s arduous festival run has included stops at the BFI London Film Festival, the AFI Film Festival, and, just a few short months ago, the Seattle International Film Festival. But the wait for a stateside release is coming to a close, as Strand Releasing has positioned the film for a theatrical rollout beginning on September 20th.
Reviews from the U.K., where Zaytoun opened in December, suggest a soft and formulaic story boosted by winning performances, and those sentiments would appear to be supported by the new trailer, which at one point boasts proudly (and perhaps desperately, given the consistently mild buzz), “from the Academy Award-winning producer of The King’s Speech.” But a leading showcase for Stephen Dorff is never something to take for granted, as he’s proved recently with Ric Roman Waugh’s Felon and especially Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere; if he appears a tad uncomfortable under that accent in the trailer, he likely deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Check out the trailer, as well as a full synopsis, below:
In 1982, amid the Lebanese Civil War, Israeli pilot Yoni (Stephen Dorff) is shot down over Beirut and is taken prisoner by inhabitants of a Palestinian refugee camp. Among the captors is ten-year-old Fahed, whose father obsessively tends to his prized, but sickly olive tree, refusing to replant it until they return to their ancestral land. Despite his deep-rooted hatred for Yoni, Fahed realizes he can use him to get past the border and into “Palestine” to plant his father’s olive tree. The two embark on a harrowing and dangerous journey – one that tests the very boundaries of humanity. ZAYTOUN is a story of survival, reconciliation and friendship.
Has Zaytoun been on your radar prior to this trailer? Are you planning to check it out?