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Spaghetti Western ‘Once Upon a Time in Gaza’ Arrives in Theaters After Cannes Win

The Nasser brothers depict Gaza's 2007 blockade through spaghetti western tropes in a searing critique of propaganda cinema.

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Overview

  • Set in 2007, the film follows three protagonists—a student, a drug dealer and a corrupt policeman—whose intertwining stories illustrate Gaza’s blockade-driven hardships.
  • After leaving Gaza in 2012 due to production challenges under blockade and Hamas rule, the filmmakers recreated the territory’s destroyed streets on locations in Jordan.
  • The film earned the Prix de la mise en scène in Un Certain Regard at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival before its June 25 theatrical release.
  • Early reviews praise its complex exploration of resilience and survival but criticize uneven writing and direction in its B-movie approach.
  • A film-within-a-film subplot critiques Hamas’s use of cinema for propaganda, interwoven with real footage of Israeli bombardments and President Trump’s February “Gaza Riviera” remarks.