Elhum Shakerifar on Annemarie Jacir's urgent restoration of a neglected chapter in Palestine's history

Reclaim The Frame Team
12 minutes ago
2 min read

Man wearing beige wrap aims a rifle in a green, rocky setting. Intense focus and determination in his one visible eye.

In a continuation of the partnership between Reclaim The Frame and Girls On Tops to support the release of Palestine 36, and to mark International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, BAFTA-nominated producer and curator Elhum Shakerifar explores Annemarie Jacir's representation of British complicity in the film.

Shakerifar notes the blend of fictional characters with real historical figures, grounding the story in reality. Shakerifar explains how the film's illustration of British policies, which enabled early Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, worked as a catalyst for the 1948 Palestinian revolts.

“Palestine 36 entwines the stories of Palestinian workers, peasants and intellectuals to re-centre this conveniently under-represented period of history: the largest and longest uprising against British colonial rule anywhere …”

The sweeping historical epic highlights themes of land, identity, resistance and erased history. Shakerifar comments that Jacir powerfully restores a neglected chapter of Palestinian history and connects it to the ongoing struggle in the present.

“Jacir's dignified and potent depiction of the Palestinian pushback against British colonial rule in 1936 Mandatory Palestine is a sharp history lesson that should underpin everyone's understanding of today's disastrous present.”

A woman wearing a white t-shirt with the text "ANNEMARIE JACIR" printed across the front. She is standing outdoors with a stone building behind her, and her hair is styled in loose waves. She has a confident expression on her face and is holding a black and white scarf that flows behind her.

To mark the release, Reclaim The Frame partnered with Girls on Tops to create a limited edition Annemarie Jacir T-shirt to celebrate her impressive body of work. Her previous award-winning films, such as Wajib (2017), When I Saw You (2012) and Salt of This Sea (2008), touch on ideas of identity, displacement and belonging. She has become a leading voice in contemporary Arab cinema.

Reclaim The Frame previously supported When I Saw You, hosting its UK premiere at the Birds Eye View Film Festival in 2012 and screening it again at our 20th Anniversary International Women’s Day Weekender this March. The event included a live Q&A with director Annemarie Jacir, a long-standing supporter of our work.

Read the full article on the Girls on Tops website.