In Memory of Mohammad Bakri (1953–2025): A Voice of Palestinian Resistance Through Art
4 min read
Born in Occupation, Raised in Storytelling
On December 24, 2025, Palestine lost one of its most courageous cultural voices.
Mohammad Bakri — legendary actor, filmmaker, and lifelong resistor through art — passed away at the age of 72 after a long illness. His legacy remains rooted in the soil of Palestinian memory.
Born in Occupation, Raised in Storytelling
Bakri was born in al-Biʿneh (البعنة), a village nestled in the hills of al-Jalil (Galilee) in occupied Palestine. He grew up in a home without electricity — but one illuminated by oral histories, ancestral memory, and an unbreakable love for the land. From these roots, his creative fire took hold.
He often said his first stage was the olive groves — among stones, wind, and stories. From that landscape, he rose to become one of the most powerful cultural figures in Palestinian and Arab cinema.
The Actor: Holding Truth in Every Role
As an actor, Bakri carried Palestine into the global imagination without compromise. His performances were not merely artistic — they were declarations of presence.
Whether in theatre, local productions, or major films such as Beyond the Walls and Wajib, he brought depth, grief, humor, and steadfastness to every role.
He refused caricature.
He refused erasure.
He refused to make Palestine small.
For Bakri, the stage and screen were battlegrounds of truth — places to confront, to educate, and to humanize. He became a living symbol of the Palestinian refusal to disappear.
The Filmmaker: Building an Archive of Resistance
Bakri’s filmmaking was where his defiance took its boldest form. His documentaries broke silences the world had grown comfortable with.
Jenin, Jenin (2002)
Filmed in the aftermath of the Jenin refugee camp massacre, this groundbreaking documentary gave survivors space to speak — uncensored, unfiltered, unafraid.
For telling the truth, the film was banned inside occupied Palestine, and Bakri was sued, harassed, and censored.
Yet Jenin, Jenin endures — as evidence, as testimony, as a cry.
Watch on Youtube with subtitles
1948
Through interviews with elderly Palestinians, 1948 documented the trauma and dignity of the Nakba.
Each story shattered the settler myth of “a land without a people” and restored the rightful memory of villages like al-Tantura, al-Lydd, and Safad.
Watch on Youtube with subtitles
Since You Left & Zahra
These films wove the personal with the political. Bakri’s own grief became a mirror for Palestine’s wounds.
He understood that personal memory is part of national survival.
A Life Lived Without Compromise
Throughout his career, Bakri stood firmly against normalization and refused to participate in cultural spaces that demanded silence. He was blacklisted by Zionist institutions, attacked in the media, and dragged through courtrooms for telling the truth.
“If I am not allowed to speak, to tell my story — I have nothing.
Art is resistance. Memory is resistance.”
— Mohammad Bakri
He lived by that principle until his final breath.
His Legacy Will Not Be Buried
Bakri’s passing is a monumental loss — but his voice continues.
His films are studied in classrooms. His interviews echo in camps and protests.
His name lives on in the lineage of Palestinian artists who resist through lens, script, and stage.
He didn’t just make films —
he built cultural trenches where memory could survive occupation.
He didn’t just act —
he insisted on Palestinian humanity, again and again.
Rest in Power, Mohammad Bakri
You taught us that resistance is not only on the battlefield —
it is in the archive, in the camera, in the line delivered with conviction.
May your memory be eternal.
May your work continue to awaken.
May your name never be erased.
🕊️ Rest in power, ya Bakri.
Your lens still resists. Your voice still echoes.