Once Upon a Time in Gaza wins the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival

The 2025 Cannes Film Festival witnessed an exceptional moment when the audience stood up and gave Palestinian directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser a standing ovation after they won the Best Director award for their new film, "Once Upon a Time in Gaza," in the Un Certain Regard section. The award was not just an artistic honor, but a global recognition of Palestinian cinema's ability to convey the voice of Gaza in a captivating and moving human language.

Once Upon a Time in Gaza: A Dramatic Story Comes to Life

The film, which premiered at the festival, cleverly blends elements of drama, crime, and political context to tell a story from Gaza in 2007. Through the relationship between Yahya, a young student, and Osama, a charismatic restaurant owner, we follow their journey from selling drugs while delivering falafel sandwiches, before they get involved in a dirty game with a corrupt police officer. The events accelerate to 2009. The film offers a real-life glimpse into the lives of young Gazans, highlighting the profound contradictions in their daily reality.

Cinema vs. Stereotype: “We give people a chance to see life.”

In an interview with Deadline Studio, Tarzan Nasser said the goal of the film was not simply to document the suffering, but to break the stereotypes imposed by the media. He added: “Everything we know about Gaza comes from news footage and fragmented interviews. We tell the stories of real people, their circumstances, the oppression they face, and how they continue to make a life for themselves despite it all.” For his part, Arab Nasser explained that work on the film began ten years ago, and that the timing of its release was not planned, but rather coincided with the painful reality that Gaza is experiencing, saying: “The people you see in the movie are the ones being killed now.”

A film about Gaza... and for Gaza

"Once Upon a Time in Gaza" is more than a film; it is a human testament to the resilience of a besieged people, and a message to the world to see Gaza from within as never before. Beyond the slogans and political reports, the film conveys stories that feel almost real, urging viewers to contemplate the meaning of life amidst the devastation and the daily suffering that never fades. The work reaffirms that cinema is capable of breaking the siege, not only geographical, but conceptual as well.