Dégradé
Fall Grant 2014 - Production Stage
Mohammed (Arab) Abunasser, Ahmad (Tarazan) Abunasser / Feature Narrative / Palestine, France, Qatar / 2015 / 83 min / Colour / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Women, Comedy, Drama, Social Issues
Synopsis
A hot summer’s day in the Gaza Strip. Today the electricity is on. Christine’s beauty salon is heaving with female clients: a bitter divorcée, a religious woman, a lunatic addicted to prescription drugs, a young bride-to-be accompanied by her asthmatic mother and her quarrelsome mother-in-law, and a very pregnant woman, among others. But their day of leisure is disrupted when gunfire breaks out across the street. A gangland family has stolen the lion from Gaza’s only zoo, and Hamas police forces have decided it’s time to settle old scores. Stuck in the salon, with the prospect of death drawing ever nearer, the women start to unravel. How will the day end? Will they lose their lives for the sake of ‘liberating the lion’?
Credits
- Director
- Arab Abunasser, Tarzan Abunasser
- Screenwriter
- Arab Abunasser, Tarzan Abunasser
- Producer
- Rani Massalha, Rashid Abdelhamid, Marie Legrand
- Production Company
- Les Films du Tambour, Made in Palestine
About the Director
Filmmakers and identical twin brothers Tarzan and Arab were born in Gaza in 1988. In 2010, they received the A.M. Qattan Foundation's prestigious Young Artist of the Year Award for their conceptual artwork ‘Gazawood’, a series of mock-Hollywood posters for imaginary feature films named after real Israeli military offensives on Gaza. That same year, they directed the short film ‘Colourful Journey’, which had its premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. In 2013, they directed the short ‘Condom Lead’, which appeared in official competition at the Festival de Cannes. ‘Dégradé’ is their first feature-length film.
Filmmakers and identical twin brothers Tarzan and Arab were born in Gaza in 1988. In 2010, they received the A.M. Qattan Foundation's prestigious Young Artist of the Year Award for their conceptual artwork ‘Gazawood’, a series of mock-Hollywood posters for imaginary feature films named after real Israeli military offensives on Gaza. That same year, they directed the short film ‘Colourful Journey’, which had its premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. In 2013, they directed the short ‘Condom Lead’, which appeared in official competition at the Festival de Cannes. ‘Dégradé’ is their first feature-length film.
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
Cannes Film Festival 2015, Critics' Week (WP)
Toronto Film Festival 2015
BFI London Film Festival 2015
Valladolid International Film Festival 2015
Chicago International Film Festival 2015
Morelia International Film Festival 2015
Fuzhou Silk Road Fil
Award for Best Feature Film, Athens International Film Festival 2015
Contacts
-
Director
Mohammed (Arab) Abunasser
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Director
Ahmad (Tarazan) Abunasser