Live Ideas: “Dégradé” A feature film by Tarzan & Arab Abunasser

US Premiere
(83 minutes, Palestine)

Self-taught indy phenoms the Abunasser twins have ignited the international film festival circuit with their first feature, a rare glimpse of life in Gaza. Known for their award-winning short films and a remarkable set of cinema poster pastiches, the brothers conjure a hot summer’s day in the Gaza Strip when the electricity is on. Christine’s beauty salon is heaving with female clients: a bride-to-be, a pregnant woman, a bitter divorcée, a devout woman and a pill-popping addict. But their day of leisure is disrupted when gunfire breaks out across the street. A gangland family has stolen the lioness from Gaza’s only zoo, and Hamas has 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 lioness”?