The movie was selected to be Israel's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008), 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 (2007) instead.
The town featured in the film, Beit Hatikva, is fictional and filming actually took place in the southern Israeli city Yeruham.
Was adapted into a musical which premiered Off-Broadway on November 11, 2016 and moved to Broadway on November 9, 2017, starring Tony Shalhoub as Tewfiq, Katrina Lenk as Dina, and John Cariani as Itzik. The production won Best Musical of 2017 at the Obie Awards, the Lucille Lortel Awards, and the New York Drama Critics' Circle. The Broadway version won a near-record ten Tony awards, including Best Musical.
Sasson Gabai, who plays Tewfiq in the film, reprised his role in the Broadway musical from June 26th 2018 taking over the role originally played on-stage by Tony Shalhoub. He is also scheduled to reprise the role in a future Israeli production of the musical.
Dina's cafe exists, situated in Tsvi Bornstein St at the junction with Nakhal Tsin St in Yeruham, South District.
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