Gaza Mon Amour

Synopsis

Sixty-year-old Palestinian fisherman and lifelong bachelor Issa (Salim Daw) holds a secret torch for Siham (Hiam Abbas), a dressmaker at the market. Just as he is getting up the courage to propose to her, Issa nets an ancient statue of a well-endowed, larger-than-life-sized Apollo. When the Hamas authorities get wind of the existence of this mysterious treasure, the troubles begin. Has Apollo fated Issa to a loveless life? Will he be able to find his way back to Siham? Twin directors Tarzan and Arab Nasser (Dégradé) return to the Festival with this gentle, layered love story set against a playfully sly snapshot of life in modern-day Gaza, with all of its entanglements and absurdity.

“Gaza Mon Amour offers up a vision of the Palestinian situation at once realistic and absurdist, revealing how even the simplest of love stories can be thwarted by a repressive government.”
–Hollywood Reporter