Palestinian filmmakers talk about Dégradé following its rave reception at Cannes Critics’ Week

Dégradé tells the story of 13 women stuck in a beauty salon under bizarre circumstances: the Hamas government has decided to storm a family compound where a lion kidnapped from a zoo is being kept - a real event that happened in Gaza in 2007.

Hiam Abbass, front centre, in Dégradé, which is playing at Cannes as part of Critics’ Week. Courtesy Abbout Productions

“We made this film because we love Gaza,” says Tarzan Nasser, as his brother and co-director, Arab, nods.

I meet the 26-year-old Palestinian twins an hour after their debut film Dégradé received a rapturous reception at Cannes, where it's screening as part of Critics' Week. It tells the story of 13 women stuck in a beauty salon under bizarre circumstances: the Hamas government has decided to storm a family compound where a lion kidnapped from a zoo is being kept. This might sound a little far-fetched – but it is based on a real event that happened in Gaza in 2007.

Taking that as a starting point, the brothers imagined what might have happened if there had been a beauty salon across the street from where operation Liberate Lion took place.

It is a bit ironic that they made a film set in a hairdresser’s, as the brothers have very long hair, big beards and look as though they haven’t visited a barber for a long time.

“It wasn’t the fact that it was a salon that was important,” says Arab. “We wanted a place where we could put a group of women into a location and they could talk freely.

“There is a big problem, a misunderstanding, about how women in Gaza live. Most people think women in Gaza wear veils, are overly religious and don’t speak about politics or their sex lives, and they only feed their husbands.”

The film stars Israeli-Arab actress Hiam Abbass, but most of the ensemble cast are first-time actors.

“In the beginning, we didn’t search for actresses. We were searching for faces and characters because in the movie, the characters have two faces, there is the face they show to the public that allows them to cope with society and then there is the face that reveals some of their weaknesses,” says Arab.

The directors were also looking for a story that didn’t deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and also one in which they could talk about how people live their daily lives. These are women who talk about their make-up, events happening in Gaza and their attitudes to religion. It’s a healthy, vibrant debate.

“We wanted the 13 women to be from all walks of life so that we could talk about different attributes and different sides to life in Gaza,” says Arab.

The characters include a bourgeois housewife, a religious fundamentalist and a foreigner who has moved to Gaza. At the start of the film, it’s the religious woman who is the most ostracised, but who turns out to be the protector of the group.

“Everyone has a paranoia about women and religion,” says Arab. “My mother puts on a scarf and is religious, and because she’s from Palestine people think that means she’s a terrorist. For us, religion is something you share between yourself and God. I’m a Muslim and proud of being a Muslim, but the fighting that people see is not Islam.”

Yet, in the film, there is a sense of a story unfolding in a country under occupation. All the actions takes place in one location, which gives a feeling of suffocation. In addition, there are constant sounds emanating from outside the shop, of helicopter blades, gunshots and the drone of generators.

“We are always working 50 per cent on the picture and 50 per cent on the sound,” says Tarzan. “For me, it was important to keep the camera inside the salon, because even if someone says that they don’t know what is happening outside in Gaza, he is lying because televisions all around the world have the same pictures of the bombing – but they don’t know how people live their lives.”

Arab adds that there is comfort in hearing the constant humming sound, because it is when there is complete silence that you know something bad is likely to happen.

It’s always intriguing when two people make a film together. Who calls the shots? Who directs the actors?

“Well, we argue a lot,” says Tarzan. The brothers say it is just part of their process as they have done everything together in their lives, including studying painting. They even debated which brother would appear in the film sitting on the street with the lion.

“Originally it was going to be me,” says Arab. “But then Tarzan fell in love with all the women and pleaded to do it. I said fine, just as long as in these scenes, I direct and you just listen.”