Farah Nabulsi
Farah Nabulsi | |
---|---|
Born | 1978 |
Nationality | British, Palestinan |
Alma mater | Francis Holland School, City University Business School |
Occupation(s) | Director, producer |
Years active | 2016–present |
Children | 3 |
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.
Early life
[edit]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.[citation needed]
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
[edit]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, a digital resource that deconstructs the Israeli military occupation of Palestine.[5]
Nabulsi has been invited to screen her work and speak at various 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] Prior to this, The Present won over 30 awards at various film festivals around the world.[12]
Her feature film, The Teacher, premiered on September 9, 2023[13] at the Toronto International Film Festival[14] and tells the story of a Palestinian school teacher who struggles to reconcile his risky commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students and the chance of a new relationship with a volunteer worker.[15] The Teacher won over a dozen international awards, including the Audience Award at San Francisco International Film Festival[16] and Saleh Bakri's performance in the film earned him several Best Actor awards, including at Belgrade Film Festival[17] and also from the 8th Critics Awards for Arab Films; where The Teacher was also nominated in three other categories: Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Music.[18]
Awards and accolades
[edit]Year | Film | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nom. | Wins | Nom. | Wins | ||
2021 | The Present | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Filmography
[edit]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
[edit]- ^ a b "Palestinian filmmaker, Farah Nabulsi". Kuwait Times. June 4, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Clarke, Cath (April 6, 2021). "'Film-making? Bring it on!': ex-stockbroker Farah Nabulsi on her Oscar nomination". The Guardian. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Farah Nabulsi". Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ Merali, Arzu (December 15, 2017). "Why was Gary Lineker's Palestine tweet even controversial?". Middle East Eye. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- ^ "Today They Took My Son". ICN - independent catholic news. October 17, 2016.
- ^ Saka, Hatice (October 21, 2018). "The only child I've ever known". Yeni Şafak (in Turkmen).
- ^ Parry, William (March 9, 2021). "Farah Nabulsi: Her past in The Present and the future". Al Jazeera. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
- ^ Oscar-nominated Palestinian film 'The Present' debuts on Netflix and
- ^ Clarke, Cath (April 2, 2021). "The "Phenomenal Journey" of Oscar- and BAFTA-Nominated Short 'The Present'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
- ^ "The Present (Short 2020) - Awards - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ 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
- ^ "The Teacher". TIFF. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
- ^ Drury, Sharareh (9 September 2023). "'The Teacher' Director Farah Nabulsi Explains Why Shooting in Palestine Was Crucial". Variety. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
- ^ Johnson, G. Allen (April 30, 2024). "Palestinian film 'The Teacher' captures SFFilm's top audience award". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Stojiljković, Marko (5 March 2024). "Yury Bykov's The Owner scoops the Belgrade Victor". Cineuropa. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (18 May 2024). "Cannes 2023 Titles 'Goodbye Julia' & 'Four Daughters' Lead Prizes At 8th Critics Awards For Arab Films". Deadline. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
External links
[edit]- Farah Nabulsi at IMDb
- Farah Nabulsi official site
- Oceans of Injustice official site
- Native Liberty official site
- Living people
- 1978 births
- Alumni of Bayes Business School
- British women film producers
- British women screenwriters
- English people of Palestinian descent
- Palestinian women film producers
- Palestinian human rights activists
- Palestinian women activists
- Palestinian screenwriters
- People educated at Francis Holland School
- Women screenwriters
- Writers from London