Celebrated director of ‘Jenin, Jenin’ documentary leaves behind legacy of artistic resistance.
Acclaimed Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri has died in northern Israel, ending a five-decade career that established him as one of the most influential voices in Palestinian cinema.
Bakri died on Wednesday at Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya after suffering from heart and lung problems, hospital officials said.
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His passing removes a towering figure whose work directly challenged Israeli narratives and whose decades-long legal battles over censorship became a defining chapter in Palestinian cultural resistance.
The 72-year-old was best known for his 2002 documentary, Jenin, Jenin, which captured testimonies from Palestinian residents following a devastating Israeli military operation in the refugee camp that killed 52 Palestinians.
The film ignited years of controversy in Israel but elevated Bakri’s status as a creative and would overshadow the remainder of his life.
Israeli authorities banned the documentary from screening in 2021, with the Supreme Court upholding the prohibition in 2022, deeming it defamatory.
“I intend to appeal the verdict because it is unfair, it is neutering my truth,” Bakri told the Walla News website at the time.
Five soldiers sued Bakri, and courts eventually fined him hundreds of thousands of shekels while ordering all copies seized and online links removed.
In an interview with the British Film Institute earlier this year, Bakri said, “I don’t see Israel as my enemy … but they consider me their enemy. They see me as a traitor … for making a movie.”
Born in 1953 in the Galilee village of Bi’ina, Bakri was a Palestinian citizen of Israel who studied Arabic literature and theatre at Tel Aviv University. He made his striking film debut at age 30 in Costa-Gavras’s Hanna K, playing a Palestinian refugee attempting to reclaim his family’s home.
His role as a Palestinian prisoner in the 1984 Israeli film Beyond the Walls earned international acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for the production.
But it was Bakri’s commitment to telling Palestinian stories that defined his career. He appeared in more than 40 films and directed several documentaries examining the experiences of Palestinians living under occupation and within Israel.
His solo theatrical performance of The Pessoptimist, based on Emile Habibi’s novel about Palestinian identity, was performed more than 1,500 times worldwide and cemented his status as a cultural icon.
Bakri is survived by his wife Leila and six children, including actors Saleh, Ziad and Adam, who have followed him into cinema. His funeral was held the same day in Bi’ina.
