The film is Farah Nabulsi’s feature debut following her Oscar-nominated short film 'The Present,' which also starred Saleh Bakri.
Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment is set to release the critically acclaimed Palestinian film The Teacher, directed by the Oscar-nominated British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi, in cinemas across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on February 8, 2024.
The Teacher unfolds the poignant narrative of Basem (Saleh Bakri), a Palestinian school teacher grappling with personal devastation following a tragic incident involving his son. The film takes an unexpected turn as Basem forms a deep connection with his student Adam, and an unexpected bond with British social worker Lisa (Imogen Poots).
Simultaneously, a high-profile American attorney and his wife seek the return of their son, an Israeli soldier held captive by a Palestinian resistance group. The group’s demand for a prisoner exchange creates tensions with authorities, escalating the search for the soldier and plunging Basem and Adam’s neighbourhood into turmoil.
The film was entirely shot in the West Bank, Palestine.
Speaking about the film, Farah Nabulsi said: “Although I was born, raised, and educated in the UK, in London, my blood, my heritage is very much Palestinian, and my first-hand experiences travelling to occupied and colonised Palestine in recent years really opened my eyes to the injustice and discrimination that’s taking place there and just how systematic and institutionalised it is.”
Nabulsi added: “But I wanted to get specific and tell a more personal story about someone living that reality, and explore the real-life conditions, experiences, and human emotions that drive a person to make certain choices and take certain actions; as is the case for our protagonist, Basem and his student Adam, and indeed for Simon, our Jewish-American father in the film as well, whose son is missing.”
“My intention with The Teacher is to take audiences on an intense, emotional journey into those lives and experiences, and hope I leave them contemplating the choices and decisions the characters make and the cruel reality in which they are forced to make them,” concluded Nabulsi.
The Teacher had its premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2023. In October 2023, the film earned a longlist nomination at the British Independent Film Awards in three categories: Best Debut Director, Best Debut Screenwriter, and Breakthrough Producer. Notably, the film secured the Jury Award at the Red Sea International Film Festival in December, where the jury was led by two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, and Saleh Bakri received the Best Actor Award.
