London-based Palestinian director Basil Khalil's comedy A Gaza Weekend [+lee también:
entrevista: Basil Khalil
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Cineuropa: How long did you spend working on the script?
Basil Khalil: I came up with the story in 2009. It basically started as a bullshitting tactic. I was in Cannes, sitting on the beach with a well-known documentary sales agent, and she asked me what I would do next. And I had nothing. So completely spontaneously, I came up with this plot: there is a disease in Israel and the only safe place is Gaza. She liked it very much, and she asked if I had a script; I lied and said yes. She told me she would put me in touch with the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and if they liked it, they would invite me. So I wrote the script very quickly through the summer so that I could send it to her. I never went to Sundance, but instead, I was accepted at a lab in Jordan, which was very beneficial all the same.

Why is it important to use comedy to talk about these topics?
When you go through tough times, as the people in Gaza are witnessing, with constant bombardments and suffering, the only way to cope is through comedy, as it makes the story approachable. The outside world doesn't see them as humans; they see them as victims, heroes or news items. Through comedy, you see them as humans. On the other hand, it's also a fact that there are some brilliant filmmakers who already talk about these tough issues in a serious way. The only approach I could deliver was through comedy. I think with comedy, you can reach people who otherwise wouldn't want to hear stories from a place with such tough issues. As Palestinians, when we go to festivals, it's painful for us to see films about the situation in Gaza. When we see something from everyday life, when there are characters who look like our neighbour or our auntie, this is something different.

What is the kind of audience you would like to reach? Is it also meant for the people in Gaza?
The humour in the film is very local. There are a lot of local jokes, so the Palestinians will find it hilarious. They will laugh when no one else does. But still, the situation is a universal one, to which everyone should be able to relate.

Where did the inspiration for the characters of Waleed and Emrad come from?
From a very British TV comedy from the 1980s, Only Fools and Horses by John Sullivan. There are two brothers who live in social housing; they are poor, but they try to sell all sorts of things on the market to make money. They have a dream of becoming millionaires. In Gaza, because there’s a blockade, people struggle to make a living. They can't import things easily, since they have to go through Israel, which inflates the prices. So they have learned how to do business, by smuggling and up-cycling things. They can't afford to be lazy; they are fast-thinking people.

Was it difficult to find funding for the film?
It was pretty much impossible. I found that the European co-production system was not accepting of a comedy. The gatekeepers, so to speak, want more of the same: they want misery, they want serious topics, they want suffering. So I made my short film Ave Maria as a proof of concept. I wasn't expecting it to be as successful as it was. It went to Cannes, another 300 festivals and the Oscars. It was great, and I got to meet a bunch of producers. Each of them, though, had their own expectations that they wanted to be fulfilled in the film. Luckily, then I met my current producer, who trusted me and made it possible to make the film as I had written it.

Where did you shoot, exactly?
We started in February 2020 in Haifa, in the north of Israel. Then came the lockdown, and we had to fly back to London. We thought that after a month, we would be able to travel back, but it took much longer, obviously. Then we were able to restart in February 2021, a year later. We got a special permit to shoot in Jordan and shot for an additional two-and-a-half weeks.