While waiting at the airport for her husband, Aya (Sarah Adler) is mistaken for someone else. Intrigued, she decides to pick up a complete stranger (Ulrich Thomsen) on a whim. Their encounter sparks an unexpected intimacy that unsettles Aya’s sense of certainty and awakens a yearning she neither fully understands nor knows how to fulfill. Her quiet search for meaning unfolds in a hotel room, a customer service chat and in subtle disruptions to her daily routine, as we are taken through a woman’s delicate and honest search for something meaningful.

In Dead Language, directors Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun expand their Oscar-nominated short Aya into a tender, quietly powerful feature about longing — longing for connection, for purpose, for something beyond the confines of everyday life. Sarah Adler delivers a luminous performance, allowing us to inhabit Aya’s emotions with minimal dialogue. Her portrayal resonates with honesty, inviting us to feel Aya’s inner conflicts and unspoken desires.—Marina Gandour

Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun