Cinema

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA

A film by Tarzan e Arab Nasser
France – Palestine – Germany
2025, 90′
NATIONAL PREMIERE
v.o. Italian subtitles
In collaboration with Bologna for Palestine and Bologna per Gaza

1 show for this event

This year, Gender Bender once again turns its focus to Gaza and the Palestinian cause through the voice and vision of the Nasser brothers, directors of Once Upon a Time in Gaza, winner of the Best Director award in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Set in Gaza in 2007, a city gripped by siege and political tension, Yahia, a brilliant but restless young student, forms an unlikely friendship with Osama, a charismatic drug dealer with a generous heart.

The two start dealing drugs under the cover of a falafel restaurant, finding an unexpected sense of freedom in crime. But soon they attract the attention of a corrupt policeman—a man of immense power and an even bigger ego. Blending the most distinctive elements of film noir and revenge westerns, and mixing raw irony with a streak of tragedy, Once Upon a Time in Gaza explores the oppression of occupation and how those who struggle daily to live and survive navigate the shifting lines between “right” and “wrong”.

Bologna for Palestine
Bologna for Palestine is a statement and a fundraising project through the arts, launched in December 2023 as a spontaneous reaction to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and in response to Western indifference. By bringing different artistic communities into dialogue with each other to rediscover a sense of solidarity, BfP aims to raise funds for the Palestinian people and spread awareness of Palestinian cultural and artistic heritage, which has been systematically erased and destroyed, through encounters and exchanges between Palestinian artists and artists from neighboring areas
and Italian artists and artists from the Bologna scene.

Bologna for Gaza
Bologna for Gaza is a spontaneous network that emerged between August and October 2024 to support families evacuated from Gaza and welcomed in Bologna since 2023. It is not an organization, but a group of local people and groups united by the desire to offer care, closeness, and shared responsibility. The journey began with medical assistance, but soon transformed into a close-knit community that now numbers around 200 people, mainly women and children. Weekly meetings in neighborhood homes have given rise to creative workshops, recreational and physical activities, dance, dabke, and, more recently, music therapy.

Accessibility

Presence of toilets at the premises
Accessible for people with mobility impairments and wheelchair users

Twin brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser were born in Gaza in 1988 and started their filmmaking careers with their Cannes-selected short Condom Lead before making their first feature film, Dégradé, which premiered in the 68th Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
Their second feature, Gaza mon amour, premiered in the Orrizonti Section of the 77th Venice International Film Festival and was Palestine’s submission to the 93rd Academy Awards.

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