Jacqueline Rush Rivera: Anne-Marie, from where are you joining us today? Annemarie Jacir: Hi, it’s good to be with you. I’m joining you from Palestine. Jacqueline: We are honored that you’re here with us today. I personally have followed your work for several years. Your film, Palestine 36, just had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 5th. It’s your fourth feature to screen at TIFF, is that right? ANNEMARIE: That’s right, yes. Jacqueline: Watermelon Pictures has already acquired the film for theatrical release. The film has already been selected to represent Palestine at the Oscars.…
Author: Jacqueline Rush Rivera
Jacqueline Rush Rivera
Jacqueline Rush Rivera is a cultural arts worker dedicated to seeking out and supporting hidden cultural gems. She has curated film exhibitions, directed film festival programs, directed film distribution projects, designed art exhibitions, stage managed theater productions, and has worked in a variety of cultural spaces. Born on the Island of Borinquen/Puerto Rico, Jacqueline is a long-time resident of Austin, Tejas.
Annemarie Jacir’s epic drama, Palestine 36, contextualizes the horrific wars of today not as abstract anomalies that the nightly news portrays, but as the direct extensions of colonialism and Western interventionist agendas that have been evolving for decades. The film serves as a searing counter-narrative to colonial history, framing the 1936 Arab Revolt against British colonial rule as part of a blueprint for modern occupation. An international co-production shot in Arabic and English in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Jordan (where filming was forced to relocate after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023), Jacir’s film features a…