Annemarie Jacir’s Oscar Shortlisted ‘Palestine 36’ Gets U.S. Release Date

EXCLUSIVE: Palestine 36, the Academy Award shortlisted film by Annemarie Jacir, has been set by Watermelon Pictures for a New York and Los Angeles limited release on Friday, February 13, followed by a nationwide and Canadian rollout later in March.

Palestine’s Best International Film Oscar hopeful will open at The Angelika Film Center in NYC and Laemmle Royal in LA following a series of sneak preview screenings over Thanksgiving weekend in conjunction with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People that saw busy screenings in 50+ cities in the U.S. and Canada.

The film launched at Toronto and won the Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the São Paulo International Film Festival. It was also shortlisted for the European Film Awards, and Jacir earned a Best Screenplay nomination at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Set against the backdrop of the 1936 Palestinian uprising against British colonial rule, Palestine 36 centers on Yusuf, a young villager whose life straddles the divide between his rural roots and the politically charged streets of Jerusalem as tensions rise and the British Empire’s shadow deepens.

Currently sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film stars Hiam Abbass, Saleh Bakri, Liam Cunningham, Jeremy Irons, Yasmine Al Massri, Billy Howle, Dhafer L’Abidine, Karim Daoud Anaya and Robert Aramayo.

Jacir’s 2007 debut Salt Of This Sea marked the first film made by a Palestinian woman and launched at Cannes. Her second feature, When I Saw You, launched at the Berlinale.