Mohammad Bakri

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Mohammad Bakri
محمد بكري
Mohammad Bakri.jpg
Bakri in 2010
Born(1953-11-27)27 November 1953
Bi'ina, Israel
Died24 December 2025(2025-12-24) (aged 72)
Nahariya, Israel
Alma mater Tel Aviv University
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
Years active1983–2025
SpouseLeila
Children6, including Adam, Ziad and Saleh

Mohammad Bakri (Arabic : محمد بكري, Hebrew : מוחמד בכרי; 27 November 1953 – 24 December 2025) was a Palestinian Israeli actor and film director. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Bakri was born into an Arab-Muslim family in the village of Bi'ina in Israel on 27 November 1953. [3] He went to elementary school in his hometown and received his secondary education in the nearby city of Akko. He then studied acting and Arabic literature at Tel Aviv University in 1973 and graduated three years later. [1]

Acting and film career

Bakri began his professional acting career with Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv and al-Kasaba theatre in Ramallah. His one-man plays, The Pessoptimist (1986), The Anchor (1991), Season of Migration to the North (1993) and Abu Marmar (1999), were performed in Hebrew and Arabic. He was featured in Cabaret Voltaire, by Israeli playwright Yuval Rozman. [4]

After a few years of acting in Palestinian and Israeli film, Bakri began to act in international films in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada and Italy. He also directed two documentary films including Jenin, Jenin .

Controversy

After Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, Bakri interviewed residents of the Jenin refugee camp and produced a film based on their testimony, Jenin, Jenin. Some of the survivors described a massacre of hundreds of people. [5] After three showings the film was banned by the Israeli Film Board, which claimed it was not a documentary as it showed only one side of the story. Nevertheless, Bakri showed the film at the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem cinematheques and Arab theatres such as Al-Midan in Haifa. [6]

Bakri petitioned the High Court of Justice for prohibiting the screening of the film on the grounds that it distorted the truth. After a long fight, the court rejected the censor's decision. In 2004, the Israeli High Court finally upheld its earlier overturn of the ban, but joined the Film Board in labeling the film a "propagandistic lie" based on Israeli sources that acknowledged only 52 Palestinian deaths, 38 of whom Israeli sources argued were armed fighters. [5] In response to the court's criticism, Bakri stated that he had "seen hundreds of films that deny and ignore what happened to Palestinians, yet [people have not] complained or tried to ban any film". [7]

In 2007, five soldiers who fought in the Jenin refugee camp during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 sued the cinematheques in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for screening the film in the midst of the ban, and sued Bakri for 2.5 million NIS for producing the film. [5] In July 2008, Bakri was acquitted of the charges. [8]

Jenin-Jenin earned two awards: the best film award at the 2002 Carthage International Film Festival and the International Prize for Mediterranean Documentary Filmmaking and Reporting.

Israeli right-wing group Im Tirtzu organized a campaign against Bakri. Im Tirtzu opposed a production of Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba in which Bakri played the role of Bernarda. The play was produced in 2012 at Tel Aviv's Tzavta Theater. Israel's Academy of the Performing Arts was behind the production. While refusing Im Tirtzu's request to intervene, Culture Minister Limor Livnat criticized the judgment of the theater's administration. [9]

Bakri consistently emphasized his Palestinian identity throughout his career. [3]

Personal life and death

Bakri was married to Leila [10] and together they had six children. His sons Adam, Ziad and Saleh are also actors.

Bakri died from heart disease at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya on 24 December 2025 at the age of 72. [11] [12]

Filmography

Actor

YearTitleRoleDirector(s)CountryNotes
1983 Hanna K. Selim Bakri Constantin Costa-Gavras Israel, France
1984 Beyond the Walls IssanUri Barabash, Eran Preis Israel
1986EstherMordecai Amos Gitai Israel, UK
1987 Death Before Dishonor Gavril Terry Leonard U.S.
1988Rami og JulieRami's cousin Erik Clausen Denmark
1989Ha Miklat Rashid Masharawi IsraelShort film
1989Foreign NightsMorod Izidore K. Musallam Canada
1991 Cup Final Ziad Eran Riklis Israel
1993The Mummy LivesAlexatos Gerry O'Hara U.S.
1994Beyond the Walls IIIssan Uri Barabash Israel
1994The Tale of the Three JewelsAida's father Michel Khleifi Palestine, Belgium
1994The Milky WayMahmud Ali Nassar Israel
1995Sous les pieds des femmesAmin 1996Rachid KrimFrance
1996 Haifa Haifa Rashid Masharawi Palestine, Netherlands
1997Desperado SquareAvram MandabonBenny ToratyIsrael
2001 The Body Abu YusefJonas McCordU.S.
2001 The Olive Harvest Raeda's fatherHannah EliasPalestine
2004 Private Mohammad B. Saverio Costanzo Italy
2005Yasmine's songAbu Odeh Najwa Najjar PalestineShort film
2007 The Lark Farm Nazim Paolo and Vittorio Taviani Italy
2010 Marriage and Other Disasters BauerNina Di MajoItaly
2011The Salt Fisherman Ziad Bakri PalestineShort film
2013Stay Human – The Reading MovieNarratorFulvio RenziItalyChapter XI
2014 Tyrant Sheik Rashid Gideon Raff U.S.TV series
2016 Of Kings and Prophets SamuelAdam Cooper, Bill CollageU.S.TV series
2016 The Night Of Tariq James Marsh U.S.Miniseries
2017 The Bureau Shahannah Éric Rochant France5 episodes, TV series
2017 Wajib Abu Shadi Annemarie Jacir Palestine
2017 American Assassin Ashani Michael Cuesta U.S.
2020 Homeland Abdu Qadir G'ulomU.S.8 episodes, T.V. Series
2021 The Stranger Abu Adnan Ameer Fakher Eldin Palestine
2025 All That's Left Of You Older Sharif Cherien Dabis Germany, Cyprus

Director

YearTitleCountryNotes
19991948Palestine, IsraelDocumentary film
2002 Jenin, Jenin PalestineDocumentary film
2004 Since You Left IsraelDocumentary film
2009ZahraPalestineDocumentary film

Awards and recognition

References

  1. 1 2 "Mohammad Bakri". webgaza.net. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  2. ↑ "Renowned Palestinian actor and director Mohammed Bakri dies at 72". CNN. 25 December 2025.
  3. 1 2 Nirit Anderman and Sheren Falah Saab (24 December 2025). "1953–2025 Renowned Palestinian Actor and Director Mohammad Bakri Dies at 72". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 December 2025.
  4. ↑ "Yuval Rozman". La Marelle (in French). Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Izenberg, Dan (17 September 2007). "'Jenin, Jenin', now in court". The Jerusalem Post . Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "Acclaimed Palestinian Actor Mohammad Bakri Faces Trial in Israel for Documentary 'Jenin, Jenin'". Democracy Now! . 22 June 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  7. ↑ "Silencing Dissent in Israel". Alternative News. 26 January 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013.
  8. ↑ Anderman, Nirit (28 July 2008). "I lie to save people". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  9. ↑ Handelzalts, Michael (31 January 2012). "Behind the curtain of a right-wing campaign against an Israeli-Arab actor". Haaretz. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "The Face | Mohammad Bakri", Haaretz Magazine. [ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Mohammad Bakri, director of 'Jenin, Jenin' passes away". Ynet News. 24 December 2025. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  12. ↑ Staff, Al Jazeera. "Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri dies at 72". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  13. 1 2 IMDb
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