Annemarie Jacir's "Palestine 36" to Open the 36th Edition of the Carthage Film Festival
Born in Bethlehem in 1974, the director is one of the major voices of contemporary Palestinian cinema. Trained in the United States after a childhood in Saudi Arabia, she has been working in independent cinema since 1994 and has more than sixteen films to her credit.
The organizing committee of the Carthage Film Festival (JCC) announced on its Facebook page that the 36th edition of the festival, scheduled from December 13 to 20, 2025, will open with Annemarie Jacir's new film, "Palestine 36". This is a strong choice, as the Palestinian director revisits one of the most significant uprisings of the 20th century in Mandatory Palestine, the 1936 peasant insurrection against British authority. The film unfolds as a fresco where intimate dramas and political upheavals intersect, set against the backdrop of the increasing arrival of Jewish populations fleeing Europe and a region on the brink of rupture.
At the center of the story is Yousuf (played by Karim Daoud Anaya), a young man torn between the traditions of his village and the allure of Al-Qods, where he dreams of a broader future. Surrounding him is a gallery of characters: Rabab, the young widow; Khalid, the rebel leader; his daughter Afra; Khouloud, the committed city dweller; as well as Amir (Dhafer El Abidine) and Kareem, the cobbler's son, who embody the multiple faces of a people in transition.
The cast also brings together an impressive international distribution, including Jeremy Irons, Liam Cunningham, Tunisian star Dhafer El Abidine, as well as iconic figures of Palestinian cinema such as Hiam Abbass, Yasmine Al-Massri, Kamel El Basha, and Saleh Bakri.
The film's atmosphere, both poetic and tense, owes much to the original music of Ben Frost and the photography of Hélène Louvart, whose camera sublimates the emotional density of this pivotal period.
About Annemarie Jacir
Born in Bethlehem in 1974, Annemarie Jacir (director, screenwriter, and producer) is one of the major voices of contemporary Palestinian cinema. Trained in the United States after a childhood in Saudi Arabia, she has been working in independent cinema since 1994 and has more than sixteen films to her credit. Her works have been screened at major festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, Rotterdam, and Toronto, and her feature films have officially represented Palestine at the Oscars. Her short film "Like Twenty Impossibles" (2003) was the first Arab short film selected at Cannes, before becoming a finalist at the Oscars.
Her second feature film, "When I Saw You", winner of the Best Asian Film award at the Berlinale, was also nominated for the Asian Pacific Screen Awards. As for "Wajib" (2017), it won no less than 36 international awards, including those at Mar del Plata, Dubai, and the London BFI Festival. Working in both fiction and documentary, she has also directed "Until When", "A Few Crumbs for the Birds", and "A Post Oslo History". With "Palestine 36", she signs a new sensitive dive into the history and memory of an oppressed people seeking liberation and justice.
