The Teacher – Watch the trailer for the new Palestinian drama from Farah Nabulsi

A Palestinian school teacher (Saleh Bakri, The Band’s Visit) struggles to reconcile his risky commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students (Muhammad Abed El Rahman) and the chance of a new relationship with a volunteer worker (Imogen Poots, The Father).

The Present stars Saleh Bakri, Imogen Poots, Muhammad Abed El Rahman, Stanley Townsend, Paul Herzberg, Mahmoud Bakri, and Andrea Irvine.

Farah Nabulsi is an Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning Palestinian-British filmmaker. Since 2016, she has been writing and producing fiction films inspired by socially relevant themes. Her first short film, Today They Took My Son, was endorsed by British director Ken Loach and screened at the United Nations.

The Present, her directorial debut, which she also co-wrote and produced, premiered at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2020 and won the coveted Audience Award for Best Film. It went on to win over 60 International Film Festival Jury and Audience Awards, a BAFTA award, and it scored an Academy Award nomination. The Present was licensed internationally including to Canal+ and Netflix Worldwide.

The Teacher, Farah’s directorial feature-length debut, had its World Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. It had its MENA Premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where it took home the Best Actor award and the main Jury Prize (the jury was headed by director Baz Lurhmann). The film stars renowned Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri and British actress Imogen Poots and has won over 15 International Film Festival Awards.

Farah has been invited to serve as a jury member at numerous festivals and as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Teacher opens in New York City on 11t April and Los Angeles on 18th April 2025.