Annemarie Jacir’s Oscar-shortlisted drama Palestine 36 has landed a licensing deal with Netflix MENA, making it available on the platform across the Middle East and North Africa as of today.
Exploring the events around the 1936-1939 revolt in which Palestinians rebelled against Britain’s colonial rule, the sweeping historical epic explores a key chapter in Middle East history not seen on the big screen before.
It gathers an ensemble international cast including Palestinian actors Yasmine Al Massri, Karim Daoud Anaya, Hiam Abbass, Saleh Bakri and Zaid Ghaza, alongside Jeremy Irons, Liam Cunningham and I Swear Bafta Rising Star and Best Actor winner Robert Aramayo.
“Bringing films to a wide audience is important to us. Netflix Middle East has shown most of our works and was also the first mainstream platform to stream a large number of Palestinian films,” said Ossama Bawardi, who lead produced the picture under his Philistine Films production banner with Jacir.
Palestine 36 world premiered in Toronto last year and went onto tour raft of festivals, winning the Tokyo Grand Prix.
It also made it into the Academy Awards Best International Feature Film December shortlist as the Palestinian submission. Most recently, it leads the nominations in the Critics Awards for Arab Films, the winners of which will be announced on May 16 on the fringes of the Cannes Film Festival.
As the MENA streaming launch kicks off, Palestine 36 continues to travel theatrically worldwide, including in the U.S. and Canada, where Watermelon Pictures launched the film on March 20.
In Europe, it is currently playing in Switzerland and Belgium, having previously been released in the U.K., France and Portugal among other territories, and is due to open in Germany and Austria on May 14