Once Upon a Time in Gaza is a 2025 film written and directed by Tarzan and Arab Nasser and starring Issaq Elias, Nader Abd Alhay, Ramzi Maqdisi and Majd Eid.[1]
The Nasser Brothers were inspired to make a film about their hometown, Gaza, which they had left in 2012.[4][5] Many of their previous films have similarly tackled depictions of Gaza, and they stated that Once Upon a Time in Gaza's release in the wake of October 7 was "pure coincidence but timely," as they had been working on the film for a decade. In particular, the Nasser Brothers said that film's title was originally "meant to capture the rhythm of Gaza at the time" but took on a more sinister significance following Israel's destruction caused by the Gaza war.[6][7]
The Nasser Brothers began writing the film's screenplay in 2015 with the idea of situating Gaza within the sensibility of a Western film. They finished writing it shortly before October 7, 2023 but found, months later, that they needed to revisit it.[8] The film was then shot in Jordan. It was produced by the French production company Les Films du Tambour and many other co-producers around the world, such as the Made in Palestine Project.[6][3]
The film was selected for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, for the Un Certain Regard category, and was one of the nine Arab films to be screened.[9] It premiered there on May 19.[10]MAD Solutions has distribution rights in the Middle East and North Africa, and Dulac Distribution has distribution rights in France.[11]
Release
Once Upon a Time in Gaza will have special screening at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival in the Special Screening - DFI Presents section in August 2025.[12]
Critical reception
Tarzan Nasser and Arab Nasser, Palestinian film directors, accepting the Un Certain Regard directing award for Once Upon a Time in Gaza at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
The Hollywood Reporter called the film "A small-scale deadpan epic with broader implications" and commended the Nasser Brothers for making films about the complexities of life amid geopolitical conflict.[13]
RogerEbert.com stated that the film's two halves structurally disjointed but commended "the lurching, unpredictable nature of the narrative."[14]
Variety found the film, while successfully comedic at times, "more facsimile than homage or self-reflection" due to its inconsistent focus and its reliance on coincidence as conclusion, as well as its lack of depth on some of its characters' motivations.[15]
Screen Daily said that "much of the film works in a muted, realist, atmospherically dense thriller mode" and lauded the film's focus on its main characters, as well as its self-awareness with regard to "the difference between filmed and real imagery."[16]
Next Best Picture gave the film a score of seven out of ten, appreciating its successful realization of a "crime thriller" movie with relevant political commentary but finding it somewhat derivative of the Nasser Brothers' genre influences such as Nicolas Winding Refn, Quentin Tarantino, and the Safdie brothers.[17]
Little White Lies appreciated that the Nasser Brothers conveyed the "decades of suffering which Palestinians have been subjected to" through "webs of subtext" rather than spectacular, fetishized displays of violence.[18]
Loud and Clear gave the film four stars out five, calling it "Necessary and remarkable... a beautifully shot and politically significant film, especially relevant today." It lamented that the film's second half was weaker and "sometimes too on the nose."[19]
Cairo Scene called the film funny, unpredictable, and charming, while also lauding its "film-within-a film element" in regards to its plot around The Rebel, an action movie shot in Gaza. Of the Nasser Brothers, Cairo Scene concluded that "They created a film that is both unflinching and unexpectedly uplifting. It demands to be seen."[20]
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