Gaza, today. Sixty-year-old fisherman Issa is secretly in love with Siham, a woman who works at the market with her daughter Leila. When he discovers an ancient phallic statue of Apollo in his fishing nets, Issa hides it, not knowing what to do with this mysterious and potent treasure. Yet deep inside, he feels that this discovery will change his life forever. Strangely, his confidence starts to grow and eventually he decides to approach Siham.

GAZA MON AMOUR is a sweet dramatic comedy inspired by a true story that took place in Gaza in 2014. When a fisherman found a Greek statue of Apollo in the sea, Hamas confiscated it immediately and started looking for a buyer, hoping to make enough money to settle the country’s financial troubles. No one knows what happened to the statue. Some say it was sold and then destroyed in an air strike. It was really quite saddening to realize that our government did not know what to do with this statue, other than burying it in some cellar. But at the same time, our imagination was aroused... What could be more exciting than to imagine the God of love making an appearance in Gaza, arriving to rock the life of an old, single fisherman? With this film, as with our previous work, we seek to give a glimpse of everyday life on this small piece of land called Gaza. It’s a strange place, where the simplest situations can turn out to be immensely complicated While stuck in this gloomy situation, our protagonist sees life differently. Issa is a romantic and, despite the conservative traditions of his country, despite his age, despite the endless political problems, he makes a stand for the right to love, which makes him a true resistant. The tone of the film is funny, sometimes dark, even bitter at times, but above all, it's tender and melancholic, just like Issa and Siham. Their comings and goings, their rendezvous, the progression of their story are all treated almost as choreographed moments, which accentuates this feeling of sweetness, of melancholy. A shared moment under an umbrella, a look exchanged at the market, pants that are too short, a sardine skewer prepared with love... The most beautiful stories are also sometimes the simplest.

Twins Tarzan and Arab Nasser were born in Gaza, Palestine, in 1988. They studied Fine Arts at Al-Aqsa University where they became passionate about cinema and painting. In 2013, they directed the short CONDOM LEAD. The film was selected in Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, they directed their first feature film, DÉGRADÉ, which had its world premiere at Cannes’ Critics’ Week 2015, was selected at the 2015 TIFF, and sold in a dozen territories worldwide. GAZA MON AMOUR is their second feature-film.

FILMOGRAPHY:
2020 - GAZA MON AMOUR
2015 - DÉGRADÉ