Veteran Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri has died at the age of 72, bringing to a close a distinguished career spanning more than five decades in cinema and theatre.
He passed away on Wednesday at the Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya in northern Israel, hospital authorities confirmed, after suffering from heart and lung complications, Al Jazeera reports.
Bakri was widely regarded as one of the most prominent voices in Palestinian cinema, known for works that challenged dominant Israeli narratives and highlighted Palestinian lived experiences. His artistic journey was often intertwined with controversy, particularly due to his outspoken stance on censorship and freedom of expression.
He rose to global attention with the 2002 documentary Jenin, Jenin, which presented testimonies of residents of the Jenin refugee camp following an Israeli military operation that left 52 Palestinians dead. The film sparked prolonged legal and political disputes in Israel and became a defining moment in Bakri’s life and career. Israeli authorities banned the documentary in 2021, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court in 2022 on grounds of defamation.
Bakri publicly opposed the ruling, stating at the time that it undermined his truth and silenced his voice. Several Israeli soldiers filed lawsuits against him, resulting in heavy fines and court orders to confiscate all copies of the film and remove it from online platforms.
Born in 1953 in the Galilee village of Bi’ina, Bakri was a Palestinian citizen of Israel. He studied Arabic literature and theatre at Tel Aviv University and made his international film debut in Costa-Gavras’s Hanna K, portraying a Palestinian refugee seeking to reclaim his family home. He later gained acclaim for his role in the Israeli film Beyond the Walls (1984), which received an Academy Award nomination.
Throughout his career, Bakri appeared in more than 40 films and directed several documentaries focusing on Palestinian identity, occupation and marginalisation. His solo stage adaptation of Emile Habibi’s The Pessoptimist was performed over 1,500 times worldwide, securing his legacy as a cultural icon.
Bakri is survived by his wife Leila and six children, three of whom are actors. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Bi’ina on the day of his death.
