Mohammad Bakri (born 1953; ar, محمد بكري, he, מוחמד בכרי) is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

actor and film director.Biography
Mohammad Bakri Official Website.

Personal life

Bakri was born in the village of

Bi'ina Bi'ina or al-Bi'na (also el-Baneh) ( ar, البعنة) is an Arab town in the Northern District of Israel. It is located east of Akko. In 2003, Bi'ina merged with Majd al-Krum and Deir al-Asad to form the city of Shaghur, but was reinstated as a ...

in Israel. He went to elementary school in his hometown and received his secondary education in the nearby city of

Akko Acre ( ), known locally as Akko ( he, עַכּוֹ, ''ʻAkō'') or Akka ( ar, عكّا, ''ʻAkkā''), is a city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District of Israel. The city occupies an important location, sitting in a natural harb ...

. He studied acting and

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

in 1973 and graduated three years later. Bakri is married to Leila and together they have six children. His sons

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

, Ziad and

Saleh Bakri Saleh Bakri ( ar, صالح بكري, he, סאלח בכרי; born 1977) is an Israeli-born Palestinian film and theater actor. He began his career in the theater. He is the son of actor and film director Mohammad Bakri, brother of actors Ziad an ...

are also actors.

Acting and film career

Bakri began his professional acting career in with Habima Theatre in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

theater and al-Kasaba theater in

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerus ...

. 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. After a few years of acting in

and

Israeli film Cinema of Israel ( he, קולנוע ישראלי, Kolnoa Yisraeli) refers to film production in Israel since its founding in 1948. Most Israeli films are produced in Hebrew, but there are productions in other languages such as Arabic and English ...

, Bakri began to act in international films in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Bakri also directed two

documentary films A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

including the controversial ''

Jenin, Jenin ''Jenin, Jenin'' is a film directed by Mohammed Bakri, a prominent Palestinian actor and Israeli citizen, in order to portray what Bakri calls "the Palestinian truth" about the " Battle of Jenin", a clash between the Israeli army and Palestini ...

''.

Controversy

After

Operation Defensive Shield Operation "Defensive Shield" ( he, מִבְצָע חוֹמַת מָגֵן, ''Mivtza Homat Magen'', literally "Operation Shield Wall") was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002 during the Second Intifada ...

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. 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

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

cinematheques and Arab theaters such as Al-Midan in

. 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 which acknowledged only 52 Palestinian deaths, 38 of whom Israeli sources argued were armed fighters. 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 eople haven’tcomplained or tried to ban any film." 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. In July 2008 Bakri was acquitted of the charges. ''Jenin-Jenin'' earned two awards: the best film award at the Carthage International Film Festival, 2002, and the International Prize for Mediterranean Documentary Filmmaking and Reporting. Israeli right-wing group

Im Tirtzu Im Tirtzu (Hebrew: אם תרצו, lit. 'If you will it') is a Zionist non-governmental organization based in Israel. Its name is derived from an epigraph appended to the frontispiece of Theodor Herzl's novel '' Altneuland'', 'if you wish it, it ...

organized a campaign against Bakri. Im Tirtzu opposed a production of

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

's ''

The House of Bernarda Alba ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' ( es, La casa de Bernarda Alba) is a play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. Commentators have often grouped it with ''Blood Wedding'' and ''Yerma'' as a "rural trilogy". Garcia Lorca did not incl ...

'' in which Bakri played the role of Bernarda. The play was produced in 2012 at

'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 Limor Livnat (; born 22 September 1950) is an Israeli former politician. She served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1992 and 2015, and was Minister of Communications, Minister of Education, and Minister of Culture & Sport. Biogr ...

criticized the judgment of the theater's administration.

Filmography

Actor

Director

Awards and recognition

* Award for the Best Actor for the role in ''Private'' in

Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, es, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of B ...

2005IMDb
/ref> * Best Actor Award for ''Private'' by Saverio Costanzo,

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, s ...

2004 * Palestine Prize for Cinema 1999 Ramallah * Award for the Best Actor for the role in ''Haifa'' by Rashid Masharawi, Valencia Festival 1997 * Award for the Best Actor for the role in ''Beyond the Walls II'' by Uri Barabash, Valencia Festival 1994 * Award for the Best Actor for the role in ''Beyond the Walls'' by Uri Barabash, Israel 1984 * Award for the best actor for the role in ''Season of Migration to the North'', by

Tayeb Salih Tayeb Salih ( ar, الطيب صالح, aṭ-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ; 12 July 1929 – 18 February 2009) was a Sudanese writer, cultural journalist for the BBC Arabic programme as well as for Arabic journals, and a staff member of UNESCO. He is best k ...

, adapted and directed by

Ouriel Zohar Ouriel Zohar (born 1952), is an Israeli and French theater director, playwright, poet and translator from French to Hebrew. Professor at the Department of Humanities & Arts at the Technion University, created the Technion theater in 1986. Has be ...

, in the

Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre The Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre (also Acco Fringe Theatre Festival, Israel Fringe Theatre Festival) is a four-day performing arts festival held annually in the city of Acre, Israel during the Intermediate Days of the Sukkot ...

, Israel 1993.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakri, Mohammad 1953 births Living people Arab-Israeli film directors Israeli film directors Israeli film producers Israeli male film actors Israeli male stage actors Tel Aviv University alumni