This soul-stirring Palestinian entry for the 2026 Academy Awards dramatises the interconnected struggles of several Palestinian Arabs against British colonialism and Zionist settlements in 1936. Annemarie Jacir opens a window onto this lesser-known but crucial history that informs continued Palestinian resistance.

It is 1936: British colonial rule over Palestine has led to widespread discontent, largely owing to British support for Zionism and the allocation of land for Jewish settlements. In this moment, a spark ignites, and we are witness to the galvanisation of the Palestinian independence cause within very different people, locals and sympathetic British bureaucrats alike. Among them is Yusuf (Karim Daoud Anaya), a young man from the villages with growing revolutionary sentiment, and Khuloud (Yasmine Al Massri), the outspoken wife of a wealthy Palestinian journalist.