Farah Nabulsi

Farah Nabulsi (Arabic: فرح النابلسي; born 1978) is a British-Palestinian filmmaker and human rights activist. For her short film The Present, she was nominated for an Academy Award and won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.

Farah Nabulsi
Born1978
London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish, Palestinan
Alma materFrancis Holland School, City University Business School
Occupation(s)Director, producer
Years active2016–present
Children3

Early life

Nabulsi was born and raised in London,[1] and is the daughter of a Palestinian mother and Palestinian-Egyptian father.[2] Her father came to the UK to study for a PhD in civil engineering and her mother arrived via Kuwait when her family left Palestine following the Arab-Israeli war in 1967.[3] Nabulsi attended Francis Holland School for girls and is a graduate of Cass Business School, London.

In her late 30s, she switched her career after working in the city as a CFA-qualified stockbroker at a boutique investment bank, and later JP Morgan.[3] She made the decision following a trip to Palestine in 2013 for the first time as an adult to trace her family roots.[4][1]

Film career

In 2016, she founded Native Liberty Productions, a not-for-profit media production company, that aims to re-humanize the Palestinians and draw attention to the injustices they face. She is also the founder of oceansofinjustice.com, an online educational platform with news from the Israeli-occupied territories.[5]

Nabulsi has been invited to screen her work and speak at various notable events including the United Nations Headquarters in New York where she addressed the delegates in the Trustee Chamber Council.[6][7][8]

In 2021, Nabulsi's directorial debut The Present[9] was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.[10] On 10 April 2021 it won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film. The only short that was up for both awards.[11]

Her first feature film, The Teacher, premiered on September 9, 2023[12] at the Toronto International Film Festival.[13] The film tells the story of a grief-ridden Palestinian school teacher, Basem, who becomes very involved in the lives of two of his students, Adam and Yacoub, when their home is bulldozed. Throughout the film, Basem attempts to reconcile his role as a father figure to Adam and Yacoub and his commitment to the Palestinian resistance, all in the midst of an ongoing incident in which an IDF soldier, the son of an American diplomat, is being held hostage.

Awards and accolades
Year Film Academy Awards BAFTA Awards
Nom. Wins Nom. Wins
2021 The Present 1 1 1

Filmography
Films directed by Farah Nabulsi
Year Title Director Writer Producer
2016 Oceans of Injustice No Yes Yes
2017 Today They Took My Son No Yes Yes
2018 Nightmare of Gaza No Yes Yes
2020 The Present Yes Yes No
2023 The Teacher Yes Yes Yes

References
  1. "Palestinian filmmaker, Farah Nabulsi". Kuwait Times. June 4, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  2. Ahmad, Tarek Ali (May 14, 2019). "Farah Nabulsi: Palestinian investment banker turned activist filmmaker shines light on Nakba". Arab News Network. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  3. Clarke, Cath (April 6, 2021). "'Film-making? Bring it on!': ex-stockbroker Farah Nabulsi on her Oscar nomination". The Guardian. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  4. Dex, Robert (March 19, 2021). "From finance to film: The former investment banker who has just been nominated for an Oscar". Evening Standard. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  5. "Farah Nabulsi Bio". IRA Capital. March 2, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  6. Merali, Arzu (December 15, 2017). "Why was Gary Lineker's Palestine tweet even controversial?". Middle East Eye. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  7. "Today They Took My Son". ICN - independent catholic news. October 17, 2016.
  8. Saka, Hatice (October 21, 2018). "The only child I've ever known". Yeni Şafak (in Turkmen).
  9. Parry, William (March 9, 2021). "Farah Nabulsi: Her past in The Present and the future". Al Jazeera. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  10. Oscar-nominated Palestinian film 'The Present' debuts on Netflix and
  11. Clarke, Cath (April 2, 2021). "The "Phenomenal Journey" of Oscar- and BAFTA-Nominated Short 'The Present'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  12. Nabulsi, Farah (2023-09-09), The Teacher (Drama), Muhammad Abed Elrahman, Nabil Al Raee, Mahmoud Bakri, Cocoon Films, Cocoonfilms, Native Liberty, retrieved 2023-09-12
  13. "The Teacher". TIFF. Retrieved 2023-09-12.


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