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Palestinian twin brothers, Tarzan and Arab Nasser, who are well-known for their previous works like Degrade (2015) and Gaza Mon Amour (2019), return to the 2025 Cannes Film Festival with "Once upon a time in Gaza"—the brothers' newest film featured in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.
The film is set against the backdrop of 2007 Gaza, when Hamas seized control after a brief civil war with Fatah and the beginning of the Israeli blockade. The film's focal point is that of a low-key crime drama mixed with dark comedy, rather than focusing on heavy political exposition.
The film initially follows a falafel shop owner named Osama, who secretly runs a small drug operation involving prescription pills, and Yahya, a modest young man managing the falafel shop while dreaming of a better future outside Gaza.
Their lives are restricted by the oppressive environment, caught between Hamas trying to enforce control on the streets and the Israeli Defense Forces surveilling from above.
Osama’s drug business gets interrupted when a corrupt cop, Abou Sami, demands a cut from Osama’s business. Osama refuses, leading to tensions rising between them and eventually culminating in Osama’s brutal murder by Abou Sami.
The story jumps ahead to 2009, Hamas has solidified its power, and the film follows Yahya as he is approached by a film director to star in a low-budget TV series called "The Rebel", which glorifies a militant martyr.
Yahya’s involvement in the series symbolizes a complex form of resistance and survival, as he embraces the role of a hero despite the absurdity and propaganda nature of the production.
The corrupt cop makes a return and gets spotted on the set of the series. Violence ensues, and Yahya is able to overpower the cop. Yahya stands over Abou Sami, gun in hand, but instead of pulling the trigger, collapses into sobs, realizing that one soldier won’t bring back Osama nor change the system that took his life.
The film's themes show the harsh realities of life under siege, the widespread incompetence and corruption in the governing regime, and the hazy distinctions between survival, victimization, and heroism.
In Gaza, where ongoing loss and plotting are commonplace, it critically investigates the idea of martyrdom. The tone of the film is satirical and deadpan, showing a world with no obvious heroes or villains but rather people navigating their limited lives in the face of ongoing loss and conflict.
Identical twin brothers, Tarzan and Arab Nasser, from Gaza, Palestine, were born in 1988, just a year after the last cinemas in Gaza closed down. Both studied Fine Arts, specifically painting, at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, which profoundly shaped their artistic vision and approach to filmmaking.
Before turning to cinema, they gained recognition for their conceptual art, notably a series called "Gazawood," which consisted of pseudo-Hollywood cinematographic posters inspired by Israeli military offensives on Gaza.
Their first notable film work was the short film "Condom Lead" (2013), which premiered in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the first Palestinian film to do so, and was also screened at the Dubai International Film Festival.
The Nasser brothers have since been based in France but maintain a strong connection to Gaza, drawing inspiration from its people and conditions. Their films often blend genre elements with dark humor and social commentary, reflecting the complexities and struggles of life under occupation and siege.
Their latest film, "Once upon in Gaza," continues this approach by using dark humor and a layered narrative to depict the struggles of ordinary Gazans trapped in a cycle of violence, corruption and propaganda, highlighting their resilience and the absurdity of their circumstances.
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