Palestinian filmmaker and poet
Annemarie Jacir
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Palestinian_actress_Reem_Abu_Sbaih%2C_Composer_Kamran_Rastegar%2C_and_Writer-Director_Annemarie_Jacir_at_Cannes_International_Film_Festival_2003_for_World_Premiere_of_like_twenty_impossibles.jpg/220px-thumbnail.jpg) Actress Reem Abu Sbaih (left) and composer Kamran Rastegar (second left), with Jacir (right) at Cannes in 2003 for world premiere of
like twenty impossibles
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Occupation(s)
| Director, actress, poet, screenwriter
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Years active
| 1998?present
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Website
| www
.philistinefilms
.com
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Annemarie Jacir
(
Arabic
:
?? ???? ????
) is a
Palestinian
filmmaker, writer, and producer.
Career
[
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]
Filmmaking
[
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]
Jacir has been working in independent cinema since 1998 and has written, directed and produced a number of award-winning films. Two of her films have premiered as Official Selections in Cannes, one in Berlin and in Venice, Locarno, Rotterdam, Toronto, and Telluride. All three of her feature films were selected as Palestine's Oscar Entry for Foreign Language Film. Her short film,
Like Twenty Impossibles
was the first Arab short film to ever be an official selection of the
Cannes International Film Festival
and went on to be a Student Academy Awards Finalist, winning more than 15 awards at International festivals including Best Film at the
Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films
,
Chicago International Film Festival
, Institute Du Monde Arabe Biennale,
Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival
, and IFP/New York.
like twenty impossibles
was named one of the ten best films of 2003 by Gavin Smith of
Film Comment Magazine
.
[1]
In 2007, Jacir shot the first
feature film
by a Palestinian woman director,
Salt of this Sea
, the story of a working-class American woman whose parents were Palestinian refugees, making her first return to her family's homeland.
[2]
[3]
Her second work to debut in the
Cannes Film Festival
,
Salt of this Sea
went on to win the
FIPRESCI
Critics Award and garnered fourteen other international awards including Best Film in Milan. The film was Palestine's submission to the
81st Academy Awards
for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.
[4]
It also received many other awards and nominations, including winning the
Muhr Arab Award
for Best Screenplay at the
Dubai International Film Festival
,
[5]
a Cinema in Motion award at the 55th
San Sebastian International Film Festival
[6]
and a
FIPRESCI
award.
[7]
Salt of this Sea
starred poet
Suheir Hammad
alongside
Saleh Bakri
.
Her second feature,
When I Saw You
, won Best Asian Film at the
Berlinale
, Best Arab Film in Abu Dhabi and Best Film in Amiens, Phoenix, and Olympia, and garnered a nomination at the
Asian Pacific Screen Awards
. Working in both fiction and documentary, other films include
Until When
,
A Few Crumbs for the Birds
, which she also shot as cinematographer, and short film
A
Post Oslo History
.
[8]
In 2011, Chinese director
Zhang Yimou
selected her to be his first protegee as part of the
Rolex Arts Initiative
. Jacir also curates, actively promoting independent cinema in the region. Founder of Philistine Films, she collaborates as an editor, screenwriter and occasional producer with fellow filmmakers. Her 2017 film
Wajib
won or was nominated for 35 international awards, including Best Film in
Mar Del Plata
, Dubai,
Locarno
and Kerala, and a jury mention at the
London Film Festival
.
[9]
[10]
Poetry
[
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Jacir's poetry and stories have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including
Mizna
, the
Crab Orchard Review
, and
The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology
. She has read with poet
Amiri Baraka
. She has won several screenwriting awards and was a finalist for the Grand Prix du Meilleur Scenariste in Paris.
[11]
Other roles
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Jacir has served as a jury member to festivals including in Cannes in 2018 (joining the
Un Certain Regard
jury, presided by Puerto Rican/American actor
Benicio del Toro
) and the
Berlin International Film Festival
in 2020, which was presided over by English actor
Jeremy Irons
.
[12]
[13]
She is
[
when?
]
a member of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
, the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
(BAFTA), and the Asian Pacific Screen Academy and a board member of Palestine Cinema Days and Alwan for the Arts, a cultural organization devoted to North African and Middle Eastern art. She is a founding member of the
Palestinian Filmmakers' Collective
, based in Palestine.
[14]
She has taught at
Columbia University
,
Bethlehem University
, and
Birzeit University
, and in
refugee camps
in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan. She is also a mentor for
eQuinoxe Screenwriting Lab
and
Doha Film Institute
.
[15]
[16]
She is co-founder of the
artist-run space
Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art & Research
in her hometown of
Bethlehem
.
[17]
Curator
[
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She is chief curator and founder of the "Dreams of a Nation" Palestinian cinema project, dedicated to the promotion of Palestinian cinema.
[18]
[19]
In 2003, she organized and curated Dreams of a Nation, the largest traveling film festival in Palestine, which included the screening of archival Palestinian films from Revolution Cinema. The festival took place in several Palestinian cities including Bethlehem, Ramallah, Gaza City, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and Nablus.
[20]
[21]
Recognition and awards
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Her 2012 film
When I Saw You
, which starred
Saleh Bakri
, Ruba Blal and Mahmoud Asfa, won the NETPAC Critics Award for Best Asian Film at the
63rd Berlin International Film Festival
and was selected as the Palestinian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Oscar
at the
85th Academy Awards
.
[22]
Her 2017 film
Wajib
, starred
Saleh Bakri
opposite his father, veteran actor
Mohammad Bakri
. It won them 36 international awards including Best Film in Mar Del Plata, Dubai, Amiens, DC Film Festival, Kosovo and Kerala and the jury mention at the London BFI Festival. For Saleh and Mohammad Bakri's roles in the film, it won the Muhr Award for Best Actor together, and won Jacir the Muhr Award for Best Fiction Feature at the
Dubai International Film Festival
2017.
[23]
Jacir was named one of
Filmmaker magazine
'
s 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema in 2004.
[8]
Filmography
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- From Palestine with Love (Postcard from the Future)
(2022)
- Wajib
(2017)
- When I Saw You
(2012)
- Salt of This Sea
(2008)
- An Explanation ? And Then Burn the Ashes
(2006)
- Quelques miettes pour les oiseaux
(2005)
- like twenty impossibles
(2003)
- The Satellite Shooters
(2001)
- A Post Oslo History
(2001)
See also
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References
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Further reading
[
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]
- Farhat, Maymanah
The Chicago Palestine Film Festival's Evening of Shorts
- Annemarie Jacir:
For Cultural Purposes Only
, Dreams of a Nation, 2002
- Annemarie Jacir:
Coming Home: Palestinian Cinema
, 27 February 2007, The Electronic Intifada
- Rebecca Kemp:
Palestine On Film
, Interviews with Palestinian Filmmakers, Fall 2006
- Annemarie Kattan Jacir:
A Tale of Two Sisters: Witnessing an Undercover Israeli Operation in Ramallah (1)
, 15 November 2006,
The Electronic Intifada
- Brentjes, Rana:
The multiple layers of identity in Annemarie Jacir`s films
, Deutscher Orientalistentag, 2003
- Annemarie Jacir:
Letter from the editing room Paris
, December 2007, This week in Palestine
- Annemarie Jacir:
Another denial of entry for a film-maker…
, May 1, 2008, Denied Entry
External links
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