Gaza-born twin brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser are back in Cannes with “Once Upon a Time in Gaza,” their riff on the Western genre which, though not explicitly political, is certainly timely. Starting from its title.
The film, which is premiering in Un Certain Regard, was conceived way before the current Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. It follows a young student named Yahya and a charismatic drug dealer named Osama who, while peddling drugs out of a falafel restaurant, are forced to grapple with a corrupt cop with a big ego.
“Once Upon a Time in Gaza” marks their third feature after “Dégradé,” which launched from the 2015 Cannes’ Critics’ Week, and “Gaza Mon Amour,” which was Palestine’s submission to the 2021 Academy Awards.
Below, the France-based Nasser brothers speak more to Variety about contending with the latest tragic developments in their country while making “Once Upon a Time in Gaza.”
How did this film germinate?
We started writing the screenplay in 2015 and then we kept writing new drafts. The basic idea was to depict Gaza using the tone of a Western but, at the same time, tell a story that would give the audience a sense of real daily life of the people in Gaza through two or three characters.
Obviously Gaza today doesn’t look today anything like what it looks like in the film. Are you concerned about that?
Any story being told today about Gaza it’s once upon a time, because Gaza is practically no longer there. But when we chose the title, that was before the genocide that is happening now. At that time we always asked ourselves why we chose “Once Upon a Time” for the title. Well, first of all, we thought that it’s a global title: There is “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and “in the West,” and “in Anatolia.” So why not “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”? But now, with what is happening, the title is even more appropriate. Now there is a people trying to survive in a situation where most of their land is just rubble.
The film is basically about two people who are dealing drugs by using falafels. And then there is a corrupt policeman. Is there a political subtext?
We always try to just make cinema. But in Gaza, in Palestine in general, it’s very hard to escape from politics because politics control everything, they control the daily life of the people there. But at the start we were just trying to make a Western film, a piece of pure cinema. And that’s why we choose these three characters, let’s call them the good, the bad and the ugly.
Yes, but because of what is happening in Gaza right now, I don’t think we can talk about this film and completely de-contextualize it. The word “Gaza” these days conjures conflict. And you put Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” plan statement in the film, as well as occasional references to Israelis bombing with missiles. What was it like for you making this film at a time when the latest tragic developments were happening in Gaza?
I want to tell you something. We had been writing this film for a long time and when we got to a point were we thought it was finished that was on Oct. 6 [2023]. We were so proud, we decided to throw a small party with two close friends, one of whom had just came back from Gaza. And we spent a night with him just telling us how the people there were more miserable than usual. Then, after Oct. 7 we spent five months creatively petrified in front of the TV and on the phone with our family who lives in the north of Gaza. Then suddenly we decided: “OK, we have to go on, we have to go back to the script.” And we decided that what the film is about is history repeating itself and a people that has no options, no horizons, no dreams. They never surrender. They continue. They continue their life. That this is the politics inside this film. We are talking about the people who is trying to survive.