According to Roger Ebert “The Band’s Visit” has not provided any of the narrative payoffs we might have expected, but has provided something more valuable: An interlude involving two “enemies,” Arabs and Israelis, that shows them both as only ordinary people with ordinary hopes, lives and disappointments. It has also shown us two souls with rare beauty.

When: Thursday September 17, 7:00 PM
Where: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Toby Theatre

$9 Public / $5 IMA members / $7 Students with ID Buy tickets here

The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, consisting of eight men, arrive in Israel from Egypt. They have been booked by an Arab cultural center in Petah Tiqva, but through a miscommunication, the band takes a bus to Bet Hatikva, a fictional town in the middle of the Negev Desert. There is no transportation out of the city that day, and there are no hotels for them to spend the night in. The band members dine at a small restaurant where the owner, Dina invites them to stay the night at her apartment, at her friends’ apartment, and in the restaurant. That night challenges all of the characters.

The Band’s Visit was Israel’s original Foreign Language Film submission for the 80th Academy Awards, but was rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because it contained over 50% English dialogue.[1] Thus, Israel sent Beaufort instead; Beaufort was finally included in the five final nominees.

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