By Anna Mehler Paperny

TORONTO (Reuters) -Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir set out to tell a story rooted in the past but reverberating in the present and, just maybe, giving hope for the future.

“Palestine 36,” which premiered on Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, explores 1936 Palestine as it seethes under the British Mandate and as Jews fleeing Europe establish footholds near – and sometimes on – Arab land.

Watermelon Pictures has the distribution rights in the U.S. and Canada for the film, which is Palestine’s Oscar submission this year.

The film is set nearly a century in the past but feels almost mercilessly contemporary, with its Palestinian protagonists fighting for their rights while beset by encroaching settlers and a harsh colonial power. When and whethe

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