A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

About The Film

A stirring Romeo and Juliet tale for the Internet age, A BOTTLE IN THE GAZA SEA charts the long-distance and politically-challenged relationship between a French-Israeli émigré student and young Palestinian man.

Seeking to make sense of a deadly Tel Aviv suicide bombing, 17-year-old Tal (Agathe Bonitzer) pens a message in a bottle. Tossed into the Mediterranean, the note eventually washes up on a Gaza beach and is recovered by 20-year-old Naïm (Mahmoud Shalaby), a Palestinian who lives with his widowed mother (Hiam Abbass). Against the backdrop of rising tensions in Gaza, the two begin an email correspondence that is initially caustic and mistrustful, but later yields to shared hopes and fears, cross-cultural understanding and romantic yearnings.                                                                                           

Inspired by the award-winning young-adult novel by French author Valérie Zenatti (who co-wrote the screenplay), A BOTTLE IN THE GAZA SEA avoids easy answers and sentimentality while delivering a powerful personal take on friendship and love amidst the realities of the Middle East divide.