Film tip: Palestine 36 revisits a pivotal year in Palestinian history

Palestine 36 turns a pivotal and less frequently dramatised chapter of Middle Eastern history into a sweeping human drama about ordinary lives caught inside political upheaval. Annemarie Jacir moves between a Palestinian village and Jerusalem as British colonial rule, Arab resistance and Jewish migration from an increasingly hostile Europe push the region towards a violent reckoning.

Film details

• Title: Palestine 36
• Premiere date in the Netherlands: 24 September 2026
• Director: Annemarie Jacir
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Genre: Drama, history, war
• Countries: Palestine, United Kingdom, France, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia
• Languages: Arabic, English
• Subtitles: Dutch
• Age rating: 12+
• Cast: Karim Daoud Anaya, Hiam Abbass, Saleh Bakri, Yasmine Al Massri, Kamel El Basha, Jeremy Irons, Robert Aramayo and Liam Cunningham
• Where to watch in Rotterdam: KINO, LantarenVenster

What’s the vibe?

It is 1936 in British Mandatory Palestine. Yusuf moves between his rural home and Jerusalem, where political tension is growing, journalists face censorship and more villages are drawn into revolt against British rule.

At the same time, Jewish refugees are arriving from Europe as antisemitic persecution intensifies. Jacir places these developments alongside the lives of farmers, journalists, families, rebels and British officials, building a mosaic rather than telling the story through one heroic figure.

That scale makes Palestine 36 feel like a classical historical epic, but much of its power comes from smaller moments. A conversation in a village, a radio broadcast or an encounter with soldiers can suddenly carry the weight of much larger events.

The film is firmly told from a Palestinian perspective, while acknowledging the European persecution driving Jewish migration during the period. It is interested less in reducing history to a single villain or hero than in showing a society being pulled apart by competing national aspirations, colonial authority and violence.

Trailer

Check out the trailer below.

Why you might like it

• Eyes: Hélène Louvart's cinematography moves between intimate village life, bustling Jerusalem streets and large-scale historical set pieces, with archival material woven into the drama.
• Heart: The film keeps returning to people whose homes, relationships and ambitions are being overtaken by events much larger than themselves.
• Mind: Palestine 36 offers an entry point into a period that is crucial to understanding the later history of the region, while presenting that history through a specifically Palestinian cinematic perspective.

Critical reception.

Palestine 36 has received a very strong critical response. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the film 98% from 63 critic reviews, alongside a 99% verified audience score. Critics particularly praise its scale, ensemble cast, cinematography and ability to make complicated history accessible without losing sight of individual characters.

Metacritic is more measured, with a score of 67 from 11 reviews, placing the film in the generally favourable category. Eight of those reviews are positive and three are mixed.

Sight and Sound described the film as an engaging primer on a complex period of Palestinian history, while also noting that its large ensemble sometimes leaves individual characters drawn in broader strokes. The Guardian similarly praised its performances and historical perspective while finding parts of the film didactic and emotionally spread across too many characters.

RogerEbert.com responded much more enthusiastically, praising the production values, performances and decision to centre Palestinian experience in a traditional historical epic. The Los Angeles Times also admired its ambition while describing its historical storytelling as deliberately broad rather than novelistic.

The film has built an impressive awards record. It won the Tokyo Grand Prix, the top prize at the 2025 Tokyo International Film Festival. At the 2026 Critics Awards for Arab Films, Annemarie Jacir won Best Screenplay and Hélène Louvart won Best Cinematography.

Palestine 36 was also Palestine's submission for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards. It reached the 15-film shortlist but did not advance to the final five nominees.

Scene to watch for

Watch the moments when Jacir moves between staged drama and archival imagery.

Rather than using history simply as background information, the film occasionally lets documented reality push directly into the fictional story. The transition changes the texture of what you are watching and reminds you that the people on screen are moving through events that were photographed, reported and lived.

It is one of the film's most effective ways of connecting a sweeping historical narrative with the people caught inside it.

Recommended pairing

Give yourself some space around this one. A simple meal and coffee before the screening work better than rushing straight from a busy day into nearly two hours of dense historical drama.

Afterwards, take a walk or find somewhere quiet to talk. This is the sort of film that benefits from conversation, particularly if you go with someone who knows a different part of the history than you do.

Need-to-knows

Palestine 36 is set at the beginning of the 1936 to 1939 Arab Revolt in Mandatory Palestine. The uprising was directed against British colonial rule and was also shaped by Arab opposition to rising Jewish immigration and land purchases.

That Jewish migration did not occur in a vacuum. Nazi persecution created a major refugee crisis in Europe after 1933, and Palestine became an important destination for Jews trying to escape antisemitism. These overlapping realities are part of the historical tension the film attempts to dramatise.

The revolt itself included strikes, armed insurgency and attacks, followed by extensive British counterinsurgency operations. Violence affected Arab and Jewish civilians, British personnel and armed rebels. Palestine 36 tells this history predominantly through Palestinian characters rather than presenting itself as a comprehensive account of every group involved.

Jacir spent around eight years developing the film. Production was severely disrupted after October 2023, forcing parts of the shoot to move from the West Bank to Jordan. The resulting film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025.

Rotterdam audiences may also recognise the title from International Film Festival Rotterdam 2026, where Palestine 36 screened in the Limelight programme months before its regular Dutch theatrical release.