Once Upon a Time in Gaza

Once Upon a Time in Gaza (2025)

كان ياما كان في غزة

In 2007, Yahya works at his friend Osama’s falafel shop in Gaza, which doubles as a drug dealing front. His entanglement leads him to witness a terrible crime. A couple years later, Gaza’s Ministry of Culture randomly chooses Yahya to star in a TV series that highlights martyrs and heroes of the resistance. As conflict simmers in the distance, Yahya unexpectedly receives real weapons, heightening the stakes as the show provides him with an opportunity to confront the perpetrator of the offense that changed his life.

Date of release
2025-06-25
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (16)
Runtime
1h 27m
Genres
Drama
Director
Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser

Casting

Interesting facts

Once Upon a Time in Gaza is a 2025 Palestinian film written and directed by Tarzan and Arab Nasser. Starring Issaq Elias, Nader Abd Alhay, Ramzi Maqdisi and Majd Eid. Set in Hamas-controlled Gaza, Palestine, it follows Yahya and Ossama, who have to deal with a local, corrupt policeman.

Production

The Nasser Brothers were inspired to make a film about their hometown, Gaza, which they had left in 2012. 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 attacks was "pure coincidence but timely," as they had been working on the film for a decade.

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.

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.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended