Gaza-born twin brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser returned to the Cannes Film Festival with "Time in Gaza" and their improvisation for Western genres must be timely. Start with the title.
The film premiered in a certain way, in the current Israel-Hamas war, which was conceived before the current war in Gaza. It's a young student named Yahya and a charming drug dealer named Osama who is forced to fight a big self while peddling drugs at a falafel restaurant.
"Once Time in Gaza" marks their third painting after them, "Dégradé," which began in Cannes Critics Week 2015, and "Gaza Mon Amour", which is the Palestine application for the 2021 Academy Awards.
Below, the French Nasser brothers are type About competing with the latest tragic developments in their country, while “having spent some time in Gaza.”
How did this movie sprout?
We started writing scripts in 2015 and then continued to write new drafts. The basic idea is to portray Gaza in a Western tone, but at the same time, it tells a story that allows the audience to perceive the real daily life of the people of Gaza through two or three characters.
Apparently, Gaza today doesn't look like it's in the movie today. Are you worried?
There are any stories about Gaza today, this is one time, because Gaza almost no longer exists. But when we choose the title, that is before the genocide that happens now. At that time, we always asked ourselves why we chose “Once Upon a Time” to get the title. Well, first of all, we think it's a global title: "Hollywood has one, in the West" and "In Anatolia". So why not “time in Gaza”? But now, with what is happening, the title is more appropriate. Now, there is a man trying to survive most of the land just rubble.
The movie is basically two people who use falafel for drugs. Then there is a corrupt policeman. Is there any political subtext?
We always try to do movie theaters. But in Gaza, in Palestine, it is difficult to get rid of politics because politics controls everything and they control the daily lives of people there. But at the beginning, we just wanted to make a Western movie, which is a pure movie. That's why we chose these three characters and let's call them good, bad and ugly.
Yes, but because of what is going on in Gaza right now, I don't think we can talk about this movie and eliminate it completely. Today, the term “Gaza” causes conflict. You put Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” plan statement in the movie, and the occasional mention of bombing Israel with missiles. How did you feel when Gaza’s latest tragic developments take place?
I want to tell you something. We've been writing this movie for a long time and when we arrived a little bit we thought it was October 6 (2023). We were very proud that we decided to hold a small party with two close friends, one of whom just returned from Gaza. We stayed with him for a night and just told us that the people there were more pain than usual. Then, after October 7, we worked with our family living in northern Gaza for five months in front of TV and on the phone. Then suddenly we decided, "Okay, we have to go on, we have to go back to the script." We decided that the purpose of this movie was to repeat history, a person with no choice, no vision, no dream. They never surrender. They continue. They continue to live. This is the politics in this movie. We are talking about people trying to survive.