Saleh Bakri

Saleh Bakri
صالح بكري
Born	(1977-03-01) March 1, 1977 (age 47) Jaffa, Israel[1]
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2007–present
Father	Mohammad Bakri
Relatives	Adam Bakri (brother) Ziad Bakri (brother)

Saleh Bakri (Arabic: صالح بكري, Hebrew: סאלח בכרי; born 1977) is a Palestinian^[2][3] film and theater actor. He began his career in the theater. He is the son of actor and film director Mohammad Bakri, and the brother of actors Ziad, Adam Bakri and Mahmood Bakri.

Theater and film career

Bakri performed in Death and the Maiden directed by Juliano Mer-Khamis.

In 2007, Bakri appeared in his first two films: The Band's Visit, and Salt of this Sea by Annemarie Jacir, which premiered at Cannes in 2008. Salt of this Sea was Bakri's debut performance in an Arab film and went on to be Palestine's official submission for the Academy Awards. The Band's Visit also won numerous prizes and awards, including the Ophir Award for Best Supporting Actor [he] and the Most Promising Actor award at the Jerusalem Film Festival for Bakri. The following year he portrayed Elia Suleiman's father Fouad in The Time That Remains.

In 2011, Bakri appeared in Radu Mihaileanu's film The Source alongside Leïla Bekhti, Hafsia Herzi, Biyouna, Sabrina Ouazani, and Hiam Abbass.

Bakri was the protagonist of Sharif Waked's work To be continued in 2009, portraying a Palestinian martyr who reads what was supposed to be the text that testifies to his approaching obliteration but emerges instead as tales from A Thousand and One Nights. Other projects include Laila's Birthday by Rashid Masharawi, playing a supporting role next to his father, Annemarie Jacir's second film When I Saw You, ^[4] and a short movie titled Fireworks directed by Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese. He played the eponymous protagonist in the Italian thriller Salvo, which won the Critics' Week Grand Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.^[5] In 2015 Bakri appeared at the Royal Court Theatre in the play Fireworks by Palestinian playwright Dalia Taha, about two families living under siege in Gaza.^[6] In 2019 Bakri starred in Dialogue with the Unseen by Italian artist Valerio Rocco Orlando, a video installation about individuals who are questioning their own relationship with nature and society.^[7]

In 2021 Bakri's film The Present was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.^[8]

In 2022, Bakri played the protagonist in The Blue Caftan, directed by Maryam Touzani.^[9]

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director(s)	Notes
2007	The Band's Visit	Khaled	Eran Kolirin	Original title: Bikur Ha-Tizmoret
2008	Salt of this Sea	Emad	Annemarie Jacir	Original title: Milh Hadha al-Bahr
2008	Laila's Birthday	Prisoner	Rashid Masharawi	Original title: Eid milad Laila
2009	The Time That Remains	Fuad	Elia Suleiman
2011	The Source	Sami	Radu Mihăileanu	Original title: La Source des Femmes
2011	Fireworks	Saleh	Giacomo Abbruzzese
2012	When I Saw You	Layth	Annemarie Jacir	Original title: Lamma Shoftak
2013	Salvo	Salvo Mancuso	Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza
2014	Giraffada	Yacine	Rani Massalha
2015	Rattle the Cage	Talal	Majid Al Ansari	Original title: Zinzana
2017	Wajib	Shadi	Annemarie Jacir
2017	Bonboné		Rakan Mayasi	Short film
2018	The Tower	Yehia	Mats Grorud	Animated film
2019	My Zoe	Akil	Julie Delpy
2019	Dialogue with the Unseen		Valerio Rocco Orlando
2020	The Present	Yusef	Farah Nabulsi	Short film
2021	Costa Brava, Lebanon	Walid	Mounia Akl
2022	Grasshoppers	Nijm	Brad Bischoff
2022	The Blue Caftan	Halim	Maryam Touzani
2023	The Teacher	Basem	Farah Nabulsi
2025	All That's Left Of You		Cherien Dabis

References

1. Barlow, Helen (October 2, 2013). "Salvo: Saleh Bakri interview". SBS. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
2. "Interview with Saleh Bakri: The Palestinian actor tells Frank Barat why fame will not change him - or his passion for justice for his people". New Internationalist. December 2013. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
3. "Saleh Bakri will shine a light on Palestinian cinema at the Arab Film Festival in Australia | Al Bawaba". al-Bbawaba. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
4. "When I Saw You - The Film لما شفتك". Facebook. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
5. Michael Rosser (23 May 2013). "Salvo wins Cannes Critics' Week". Screen Daily. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
6. Moss, Stephen (2015-02-22). "Palestinian playwright Dalia Taha: "You want stories of suffering". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
7. Corbetta, Caroline (18 June 2019). "Dialogue with the Unseen, interview with Valerio Rocco Orlando". Domus. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
8. "Oscar-nominated Palestinian film The Present debuts on Netflix". Arab News. 18 March 2021.
9. Linden, Sheri (2023-09-10). "The Teacher Review: A Debut Feature's Eye-Opening Dramatization of Life in Occupied Palestine". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2023-09-10.

External links

• Saleh Bakri at IMDb