Mohammad Bakri, a Palestinian director and actor who sought to share the complexities of Palestinian identification and tradition by means of quite a lot of works in each Arabic and Hebrew, has died, his household introduced. He was 72.
Bakri was greatest recognized for Jenin, Jenin, a 2003 documentary he directed about an Israeli army operation within the northern West Financial institution metropolis the earlier 12 months throughout the second Palestinian intifada, or rebellion. The movie, specializing in the heavy destruction and heartbreak of its Palestinian residents, was banned by Israel.
Bakri additionally acted in Cherien Dabis’ 2025 movie All That’s Left of You, a drama a couple of Palestinian household by means of greater than 76 years, alongside his sons, Adam and Saleh Bakri, who’re additionally actors. The movie has been shortlisted by the Academy Awards for one of the best worldwide characteristic movie.
Through the years, he made a number of movies that spanned the spectrum of Palestinian experiences. He additionally acted in Hebrew, together with at Israel’s nationwide theater in Tel Aviv, and appeared in numerous well-known Israeli movies within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties. He studied at Tel Aviv College.
Bakri, who was born in northern Israel and held Israeli citizenship, dabbled in each movie and theater. His best-known one-man-show from 1986, The Pessoptimist, primarily based on the writings of Palestinian writer Emile Habiby, targeted on the intricacies and feelings of somebody who has each Israeli and Palestinian identities.
In the course of the Nineteen Eighties, Bakri performed characters in mainstream Israeli movies that humanized the Palestinian identification, together with Past the Partitions, a seminal movie about incarcerated Israelis and Palestinians, mentioned Raya Morag, a professor on the Hebrew College of Jerusalem who makes a speciality of cinema and trauma.
“He broke stereotypes about how Israelis checked out Palestinians, and permitting somebody Palestinian to be considered a hero in Israeli society,” she mentioned.
“He was a really courageous individual, and he was courageous by standing to his beliefs, selecting to not be conformist in any manner, and paying the value in each societies,” mentioned Morag.
Bakri confronted some pushback inside Palestinian society for his cooperation with Israelis. After Jenin, Jenin, he was tormented by virtually 20 years of courtroom instances in Israel, the place the movie was seen as unbalanced and inciting.
In 2022, Israel’s Supreme Courtroom upheld a ban on the documentary, saying it defamed Israeli troopers, and ordered Bakri to pay tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in damages to an Israeli army officer for defamation.
Jenin, Jenin was a turning level in Bakri’s profession. In Israel, he grew to become a polarizing determine and he by no means labored with mainstream Israeli cinema once more, Morag mentioned. “He was loyal to himself regardless of all of the pressures from inside and out of doors,” she added. “He was a agency voice that didn’t change throughout the years.”
Native media quoted Bakri’s household as saying he died Wednesday after affected by coronary heart and lung issues. His cousin, Rafic, advised the Arabic information website Al-Jarmaq that Bakri was a tenacious advocate of the Palestinians who used his works to precise help for his individuals.
“I’m sure that Abu Saleh will stay within the reminiscence of Palestinian individuals in all places and all individuals of the free world,” he mentioned, utilizing Mohammed Bakri’s nickname.