Nadav Lapid's fifth feature film, *Yes*, follows an Israeli musician and his artist wife who adopt a hedonistic lifestyle of parties, orgies, and drug use alongside war ministers and Russian oligarchs in the wake of the October 7 attacks and the Gaza conflict. The film, which premiered out of competition at Cannes, faced production challenges including crew walkouts and actor dropouts, and struggled to find US distribution before being picked up by Kino Lorber for a March 27 release in New York and April 3 in Los Angeles.
The film matters because it represents a rare, unflinching critique of Israeli society from within the country itself, directed by one of Israel's most acclaimed contemporary filmmakers. Lapid's satire targets the cognitive dissonance of living amid violence and wealth, focusing on the complicity of artists and the psychological landscape of perpetrators. The difficulty in producing and distributing the film highlights the growing polarization around art addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict, raising questions about artistic freedom and censorship in times of crisis.