‘Palestine 36’: The untold Palestinian story

Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir and actress Hiam Abbass are bringing a long-buried chapter of Palestinian history to global audiences with their new film, Palestine 36. Following an emotional world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the film has gained significant critical acclaim, recently making history by winning the top prize at the Tokyo Film Festival.

The film, which chronicles the 1936–1939 Palestinian revolt against the British mandate, has now been selected as Palestine's official entry for the 2026 Academy Awards.

A ‘Most Difficult’ Project, Interrupted by War

The production began just one week before the October 7th attacks, forcing Jacir to navigate making a historical epic “in the middle of this genocide.”

In an interview on Zeteo with journalist Mehdi Hasan, Jacir said, “It was already the most difficult project before all the real difficulties started.” Pre-production involved restoring an entire village, building British tanks and machinery, and preparing costumes for a large-scale shoot entirely in Palestine.

Read more: Palestine 36 makes history, wins top prize at Tokyo Film Festival

Those plans were shattered by the war. “One week before our first shoot date… was October 7th,” Jacir said. “It changed obviously everything. We had to… evacuate the cast and crew.” While foreign crew members were evacuated, local Palestinian staff faced weeks of disruption. The lead actor, Karim Daoud, was stuck in Bethlehem and unable to return to his home in Qalqilya.

Jacir described the emotional and psychological toll as the aggression escalated. “Everything just became darker and darker. We found ourselves in the middle of this genocide… trying to make a film about a period so long ago that it feels so relevant.”

‘Life Imitates Art’: Historical and Contemporary Parallels

A central theme of Palestine 36 is the continuity between British occupation practices and current 'Israeli' policies. One of the film’s most striking scenes shows British soldiers tying a young Palestinian boy to a car hood. Jacir recalled a disturbing real-life coincidence: “When we shot that scene… two days later, the Israelis had gone into Nablus and… it was exactly the same.”

Abbass, who portrays a matriarchal figure in the film, noted, “The practices of the British… were in a way inherited by the Israelis… and it’s just the same practice going on.”

‘The Suffering is Inherited’

Abbass, known for her role as Marcia Roy in HBO’s Succession, reflected on the film’s emotional resonance. “The suffering is inherited. It’s in our skin, under our skin, in our bodies… the pain is always there,” she said. She described the project as a “duty” to preserve Palestinian memory: “The most important thing for me is how much we can continue to tell these stories so that our voices exist… For those who die, we have to keep going. We have to give them the life that was taken away from them.”

Read more: "PALESTINE 36", official Oscar entry 2026, to premiere at Red Sea Film Festival

 A Changing Industry

Jacir noted the film industry’s mixed response since October 7. “In terms of audience, people do want to know,” she said, “but on the upper levels, the gatekeepers are really trying to keep us out more than ever before.”

Despite this, the film's success, including its upcoming premiere at the prestigious Red Sea Film Festival, suggests a growing appetite for Palestinian stories. Abbass pointed to gradual change, citing the support of Succession co-stars Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong, and noting that governments now discussing recognition of a Palestinian state would have been unthinkable two years ago.

For both artists, the film’s ultimate goal is to reframe historical narratives. Abbass concluded, “You cannot judge your present if you don’t understand the past.” Jacir added, “It’s absolutely essential to understand what is happening today by knowing what happened then… You cannot understand 1948 without understanding 1936.”