Palestine 36

The year is 1936. Palestine is under the British mandate and an uprising is starting in the villages. Yusuf moves between his village and Jerusalem; his family is in one, his work in the other. The distance between the two places is short but the difference large: in the village they talk about taxes, land and confiscated harvests, in the city about politics and commissions. The British administration tightens its hold, the wave of immigration fleeing antisemitism in Europe continues, and the strike spreads. Yusuf is not forced to take a side; the sides find him. Annemarie Jacir writes and directs. Hiam Abbass and Jeremy Irons are in the cast. It is Jacir's fourth feature; the earlier ones are Wajib, When I Saw You and Salt of This Sea. Its world premiere was a gala screening at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2025. It was made in co-production between Palestine, Britain, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. It was submitted as Palestine's entry for the Oscar, the eighteenth Palestinian submission and Jacir's fourth. The period it treats is the general strike and revolt of 1936, rarely handled in cinema, and the film aims at that gap. Its limit is scope; the narrative carries many strands at once and some characters are not opened enough. Who it is for: viewers who like historical drama and cinema from the Middle East. Who it is not for: the subject is political, there are many characters, and the film may be found partisan.