From his distinct, enigmatic role in Hanna K. by Costa Gavras in 1983, to his most recent feature, Cherian Dabis’ All That’s Left of You (2025) alongside his sons Adam and Saleh, Mohammad Bakri’s expressive face has defined over fifty years of screen culture from and about Palestine.
In his celebrated career, he has embodied very singular roles in Palestinian cinema but also in international productions. A director himself, he has staged several theatre plays and created impactful documentaries about his home country, preserving the stories of Palestinian elders displaced by the Nakba in 1948 (1998), and of survivors of the 2002 Jenin massacres in Jenin Jenin (2002), among others.
SAFAR Film Festival is honoured to host Mohammad Bakri for a masterclass delving into his rich and diverse career. The award-winning short film Upshot (2024) by Maha Haj, one of the latest films in which Bakri has starred, will precede this conversation.
Upshot
ما بعد…
Maha Haj
Genre: Drama
Country of Production: Palestine, Italy, France
Year of Production: 2024
Duration: 34 min
After suffering unimaginable loss, Suleiman and Lubna retreat to an isolated farm, where they tend to their crops and engage in impassioned debates about their five children’s choices – until one day a stranger arrives to reveal a harrowing truth.