Annemarie Jacir’s Palestine 36 has been selected as Palestine’s entry to the international feature film Oscar award for 2026.
The selection was decided by an independent committee of Palestinian film professionals and confirmed by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.
Documenting the period of 1936-39, Palestine 36 follows a man navigating between Jerusalem and his rural home amid escalating unrest with the British Empire rulers.
The film will have its world premiere as a Gala Presentation at Toronto film festival next month. France’s mk2 films and Lucky Number are handling international sales.
It is produced by Ossama Bawardi and Azzam Fakhriddin for Philistine Films, with additional production companies Autonomous and Corniche Media from the UK, France’s MK Productions and Denmark’s Snowglobe.
BBC Film and the BFI are among the backers on the film, alongside the Doha Film Institute and Katara Studios, Watermelon Pictures, Red Sea Fund, Roya Media Group, Metafora Productions, Cocoon Films, TRT, the Jordan Film Fund, Koala VFX, the Danish Film Institute, Film I Väst, Sørfond, CNC – Aide au Cinema du Monde and Region Ile-de-France.
The cast includes Hiam Abbass, Saleh Bakri, Robert Aramayo, Billy Howle, Liam Cunningham, Dafer L’Abidine, Yasmine Al-Massri, Yumna Marwan, Karim Daoud Anaya and Jeremy Irons.
The film’s production in Palestine was put on hold following the events of October 7, 2023. Production began in Jordan before returning for additional shooting in Palestine.
It is the 18th Palestinian Oscar submission, and fourth directed by Jacir after 2018’s Wajib, 2009’s Salt Of This Sea and 2013’s When I Saw You.
Palestine has received two nominations in the category, both for Hany Abu-Assad films – Paradise Now in 2006 and Omar in 2014.
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