Venice Film Festival: "Gaza my love" or build your future in Gaza
“Gaza mon amour”, by the Palestinian brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser, world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, with Salim Daw and Hiam Abbass.
© Venice Film Festival 2020 © Venice Film Festival 2020
Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow
6 min
What a feat!
Showing Gaza, perhaps for the first time, as a deeply romantic place.
Gaza mon amour, a small poetic and political masterpiece, has just celebrated its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
Palestinian brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser tell the story of a budding love between a sixty-year-old fisherman and a seamstress who lives alone with her divorced daughter.
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"
For us, that means a lot
", react the two charismatic brothers, dressed and made up all in black, at the microphone of RFI.
After having devoted five years of their life to directing their second feature film, the thirty-something twins and filmmakers were visibly very moved after enthusiastic applause and even a few warm hugs, despite the strict application of the rules of distancing and the wearing of the compulsory mask.
The emotion was at its height this Thursday afternoon in the Sala Giardini, in the presence of the film crew, during the world premiere at the 77th Venice Film Festival, in the Orizzonti selection.
A well-deserved welcome for this love story told with delicacy, coupled with rare poetry.
Issa, the free and sentimental fisherman
At the heart of the story: Issa, 60 years old.
Every night, he crosses the border post to go to the port and take the boat.
The few kilos of fish caught just allow him to survive.
Inhabited by a free spirit and oh so sentimental, he never married to remain king of his destiny.
Until one day he glanced at his neighbor at the market, Siham.
Like him, the seamstress leads a modest life, being satisfied with little daily pleasures.
But for some time now, something has been bothering Issa.
He does not know how to declare his love for the lucky one and seduce her.
Prepare a special fish dish?
Perfume your chest and head for the next bus ride together?
Or just look for a pretext like having your pants shortened at the risk of turning them into fire floor pants?
Like a little boy, he beats around the bush, but happily turns our heads too.
“
In Gaza, men and women find themselves in the same situation.
They must resist in order to be able to continue living,
”says Tarzan Nasser.
Love and humiliation
Of course, a love story set in Gaza cannot be just a love story.
So, in the background, we hear Israeli bombings, we endure with him the power cuts, the humiliation of controls and arbitrary arrests, and we are at his side when Gazans proudly display on the market the new missile
made. in Gaza.
"
Issa is very human, despite the difficult situation in life, such as the constant bombardments by the Israeli army,"
notes Salim Daw.
Gaza City has been destroyed several times, with deaths and injuries, but Issa loves life and laughs.
Myself, I am also Palestinian.
The Palestinian people never lose hope for better days.
Issa is the Palestinian people.
"
"My future is in Gaza"
Issa, he stands up to all obstacles and refuses to seek his happiness elsewhere: "
My future is here, in Gaza,
" he says to his friend who is seeking exile somewhere in Europe.
“
Issa has a lot of hope,”
says Salim Daw.
He loves Gaza and his native region.
His love is there.
And he loves this woman.
So his future is there.
"
“
The character of Siham is really the prototype of the Palestinian mother, at the same time of this tradition, of this place, of this mentality, and at the same time one feels all the same that she would like to exist as a woman, she also wants live
”, decrypts Hiam Abbass, who perfectly embodies the role of Siham, a hollow portrait of the mother of Tarzan and Arab and that the two directors exiled in France have not seen for years.
Beautiful and touching
For the famous Palestinian actress, the film's strong point, “
is love.
Each time, we talk about wars or conflicts, and we forget that there is a humanity, a love for life and survival which is greater than all the wars and difficulties that come from outside, from there. use of power and force of arms and all that pertains to war.
To speak in these conditions of love, and of the love of people who are more quite young and who have really gone through things, it's very touching, it's very beautiful.
"
"Gaza my love, forever"
As in their first feature film,
Dégradé
, which humorously depicted the daily life of Palestinian women, the film writing of the Palestinian brothers also excels in
Gaza my love
by its simplicity.
Not to mention their genius for playing with our feelings when they express those of the characters on the screen.
Finally, we are not only with them, we are part of them, the experience of the film is so universal.
With the courage for absurdity and a touch of madness, the filmmakers turn Gaza into a place where one can unleash one's fantasy and dreams.
At the end, it's easy to understand that Tarzan and Arab Nasser say in unison: “
Gaza my love, forever
”.
►
To read also: Black love at the Venice Film Festival: "Lovers" and "Lacci"
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