Zaytoun

Zaytoun (Arabic and Hebrew for "olive"; the Turkish release title is Zeytin) is a drama, adventure and thriller film by the Israeli director Eran Riklis, first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012. It is an Israeli, British and French co-production in which Arabic, Hebrew and English are spoken. The producers were Gareth Unwin and Fred Ritzenberg, and Pathé handled distribution. It runs 110 minutes.

The events take place in the toughest days of the 1982 Lebanon War. The Israeli fighter pilot Yoni (Stephen Dorff) is shot down; he escapes by parachute but lands in a camp for Palestinian refugees and is taken prisoner. Between him and Fahed (Abdallah El Akal), the young refugee who watches him, grows a strange bond of hatred and necessity. Fahed helps Yoni escape in return for a promise to be taken to his father's village. They are enemies, but once on the road they set differences aside to survive. Alice Taglioni and Mira Awad are also in the cast.

The screenplay is by Nader Rizq, a Palestinian-American living in the United States. What began as a hobby in 1991 reached the semi-finals of the Nicholl Fellowships in 2001. American producer Fred Ritzenberg joined in late 2007 and helped develop the script.