A lot of foreign films come from France, Spain or China but not many have been produced in Israel. “The Band’s Visit,” the directorial debut of Erin Kolirin, is a surprising exception. Israel usually is a setting where conflict and violence tend to take place in film, but in “The Band’s Visit” it’s a backdrop to two different cultures interacting with one another.

The movie starts out with a shot of the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra from Egypt getting dropped off at the Israel airport. Dressed in their sky blue police uniforms, they arrived to perform for the inauguration of the Arab Cultural Center in Pet Hatikvah.

Instead, they get dropped off at Bet Hatikvah, a town where isolation overtakes this erringly silent town. So with no bus coming through until tomorrow morning and the station miles away, a night in the isolated Bet Hatikvah is their only option.

This is where the movie splits into three different stories. First, there’s the uptight leader of the band, Colonel Tawfiq Zacharaya (Sasson Gabai), who is going to be taken out to the town by Dina (Ronit Eklabetz), the lone restaurant owner that helps out the band.

Then there is the evening spent between some band members and a husband with marital issues rapidly unfolding. Last is Haled (Saleh Bakri), the most outspoken and rebellious of the band members, going into town and showing the ropes to a socially awkward boy about how to win a girl over.

Kolirin, who also wrote the screenplay, knows how to show the nuances of language between different people. Some are obvious, as seen in the verbal discussions. The band and the residents speak different languages yet somehow manage to communicate with one another. The only way they communicate with each other is through English.

Kolirin does a great job at showing how hard it is to formulate words that aren’t in their primary language. The hesitation of their deliveries, the way words are spoken, these are the little things that make this film authentic and humorous.

What stands out is the non-verbal interactions between all the characters. In a country where English isn’t the dominant language, what they don’t say speaks volumes.

A great example is when Haled is helping out Papi (Shlomi Avraham) with a girl, whether it’s to put a hand on her lap or his arm around hers. It’s a memorable scene, not for what is said but the actions done.

Out of the three stories, most of the screen time, and interest, goes to Tawfiq and Dina. Tawfiq is a man that doesn’t open up to anyone. Dina is a woman that is attracted to Tawfiq but doesn’t push past flirting with the colonel. Yet somewhere between what they say or don’t, she gets Tawfiq to open up about his personal life, ultimately unearthing the charm in the hard-nosed man.

Gabai and Eklabetz are better known outside the U.S. and both actors did a superb job connecting Tawfiq and Dina together.

Winners of eight Israeli Academy Awards, “The Band’s Visit” shows us how communication between two different cultures doesn’t necessarily mean that violence will ensue, like a lot of movies that take place in Israel do. Instead, the movie is anything but. We see and feel the happiness, sadness, joy and despair of the band and the residents in Bet Hatikvah.

With the wide range of human emotion displayed throughout this film, one can’t help but to leave the theater with a smile on your face.