Annemarie Jacir

Palestinian filmmaker and poet

Annemarie Jacir

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

Occupation(s)| Director, actress, poet, screenwriter
Years active| 1998–present
Website| www.philistinefilms.com

Annemarie Jacir (Arabic: آن ماري جاسر) is a Palestinian filmmaker, writer, and producer.

## Career

[edit]

### Filmmaking

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Jacir received an MFA from the Columbia University School of the Arts in 2002.[1] She 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.[2]

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.[3][4]

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.[5] It also received many other awards and nominations, including winning the Muhr Arab Award for Best Screenplay at the Dubai International Film Festival,[6] a Cinema in Motion award at the 55th San Sebastian International Film Festival[7] and a FIPRESCI award.[8] 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.[9]

In 2011, Chinese director Zhang Yimou selected her to be his first protégée 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.[10][11]

### 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.[12]

## 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.[13][14]

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.[15]

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.[16][17] She is co-founder of the artist-run space Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art & Research in her hometown of Bethlehem.[18]

### 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.[19][20]

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. [21][22]

## 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.[23]

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.[24]

Jacir was named one of Filmmaker magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema in 2004.[9]

## Filmography

[edit]

* Palestine 36 (TBA)
* 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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* Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Alumni Spotlight: Annemarie Jacir '02". Columbia University School of the Arts. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
2. ^ "Team". Philistine Films. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
3. ^ "San Sebastian Film Festival". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
4. ^ Oumlil, Kenza (2016). "Re-Writing History on Screen: Annemarie Jacir's "Salt of This Sea."". Arab Studies Quarterly. 38 (3): 586–600\. doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.38.3.0586.
5. ^ Mundell, Ian (22 September 2008). "'Salt' to be Palestinian Oscar entry". Variety. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
6. ^ "Annemarie Jacir". Dubai International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
7. ^ "Cinema In Motion Archive". Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
8. ^ "Annemarie Jacir". Bulbula. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016.
9. ^ a b "Annemarie Jacir". Center for Palestine Studies. Columbia University. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
10. ^ "Wajib (2017) Awards & Festivals". mubi.com. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
11. ^ "61st BFI London Film Festival announces 2017 winners". BFI. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
12. ^ "Grand Prix du Meilleur Scenariste". Archived from the original on 29 November 2007.
13. ^ "Un Certain Regard Jury 2018". Festival de Cannes. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
14. ^ "Berlinale 2020: International Jury". www.berlinale.de. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
15. ^ "Alumni Spotlight: Annemarie Jacir '02". Columbia University School of the Arts. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
16. ^ "International Screenwriters´ Workshop". www.equinoxe-europe.org. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
17. ^ "Doha Film Institute Hosts 'Hezayah Screenwriting Lab' for Feature Screenplay Development". Doha Film Institute. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
18. ^ Bishara, Hakim (14 June 2021). "Supporters Raise Over $30K for Bethlehem Arts Center Raided by Israeli Soldiers". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
19. ^ Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema. Verso Books. 2006. ISBN 9781844670888. Archived from the original on 30 December 2007.
20. ^ "Dreams of a Nation". Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
21. ^ Jacir, Annemarie (30 December 2007). "Coming Home: Palestinian Cinema". Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
22. ^ Rapfogel, Jared (15 March 2003). "A Report of Dreams of a Nation – A Palestinian Film Festival". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
23. ^ Meza, Ed (6 September 2012). "'When I Saw You' to be Palestinian Oscar entry". Variety. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
24. ^ Simon, Alissa (13 December 2017). "Palestinian Annemarie Jacir's 'Wajib' Wins Big at Dubai Festival". Variety. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

## 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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* Annemarie Jacir at IMDb
* Salt of this Sea Cannes Premiere, 2008
* Palestinian filmmakers beat the odds to hit silver screen, April 22, 2009, CNN
* Annemarie Jacir: Artist and filmmaker at IMEU.net
* Rasha Salti: "Stranger than paradise", September 9, 2008, The National
* Rasha Salti: "Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir shines at Cannes festival", November 16, 2008

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