Writer-director Farah Nabulsi brilliantly showcased the abject futility of living under occupation with her Oscar-nominated short The Present a couple years ago. By taking the seemingly mundane act of going shopping for an anniversary gift and portraying how cruelly impossible it can become when people with guns take it upon themselves to make it so, she evoked the tired frustration and unavoidable rage that Palestinians must endure on a daily basis. It should come as no surprise, then, that her feature debut The Teacher would follow suit, mirroring the additional runtime with a much more robust example.
Yet there’s the immediate sense of too many subplots bouncing around at the start. Between the drama surrounding the harassment of brothers Adam (Muhammad Abed Elrahman) and Yacoub (Mahmoud Bakri), then the story segues into their teacher/neighbor Basem El-Saleh’s (Saleh Bakri) past, the addition of a London-born volunteer social worker...
Yet there’s the immediate sense of too many subplots bouncing around at the start. Between the drama surrounding the harassment of brothers Adam (Muhammad Abed Elrahman) and Yacoub (Mahmoud Bakri), then the story segues into their teacher/neighbor Basem El-Saleh’s (Saleh Bakri) past, the addition of a London-born volunteer social worker...
- 9/10/2023
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Few filmmakers have to experience the very real thing they’re dramatising on camera actually happening around their set. But then few films are set and shot in the Occupied West Bank.
As Farah Nabulsi recalls, while making The Teacher around the city of Nablus, she witnessed the forced demotion of a Palestinian home by Israeli forces and settlers torching Palestinian olive trees, both of which take place in her film.
“On my way to set at five in the morning, by the side of the road was a Palestinian family, a couple with six young children, standing in front of the rubble of their freshly demolished house,” she says. “So yeah, this harsh reality is unfolding around you.”
Premiering in Toronto on Sept. 9, the film follows a school teacher (Palestinian acting royalty Saleh Bakri) precariously trying juggling his dangerous involvement in the resistance movement with his position as a...
As Farah Nabulsi recalls, while making The Teacher around the city of Nablus, she witnessed the forced demotion of a Palestinian home by Israeli forces and settlers torching Palestinian olive trees, both of which take place in her film.
“On my way to set at five in the morning, by the side of the road was a Palestinian family, a couple with six young children, standing in front of the rubble of their freshly demolished house,” she says. “So yeah, this harsh reality is unfolding around you.”
Premiering in Toronto on Sept. 9, the film follows a school teacher (Palestinian acting royalty Saleh Bakri) precariously trying juggling his dangerous involvement in the resistance movement with his position as a...
- 9/9/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi was watching the UK media coverage of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011, it had a profound impact on her. At the time, Shalit was an Israeli soldier who had been abducted in 2006 by Palestinians (the first Israeli soldier to be captured by Palestinians since 1994). Shalit was eventually released five years later in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds of which were women and children.
“I remember thinking at the time that this was such a huge imbalance in the value for human life,” Nabulsi tells Deadline over a Zoom interview from Egypt, where she is attending her stepdaughter’s wedding. “One person in exchange for one thousand others! But I also remember thinking about that on an individual level and that, to that soldier’s parents and loved ones, he would be worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives.”
This observation,...
“I remember thinking at the time that this was such a huge imbalance in the value for human life,” Nabulsi tells Deadline over a Zoom interview from Egypt, where she is attending her stepdaughter’s wedding. “One person in exchange for one thousand others! But I also remember thinking about that on an individual level and that, to that soldier’s parents and loved ones, he would be worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives.”
This observation,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: There will be plenty of promising acquisition titles at Venice and Toronto, but here’s an intriguing one that wrapped too late for festival consideration that will be introduced to buyers in the fall market by CAA Media Finance.
The Teacher is a drama inspired by true events, set and shot in Palestine. The film marks the feature debut of British-Palestinian writer-director Farah Nabulsi, who was Oscar nominated and won the BAFTA for her short The Present. She didn’t choose an easy path for her first feature, which she scripted and which stars Imogen Poots, Saleh Bakri, Stanley Townsend, Paul Herzberg and Andrea Irvine. One to watch is Palestinian newcomer Mohamed Abdel Rahman.
Devastated by the loss of his teenage son, The Teacher follows a Palestinian school teacher Basem El-Saleh (Bakri) who struggles to reconcile his risky commitment to political resistance with the chance of a new relationship...
The Teacher is a drama inspired by true events, set and shot in Palestine. The film marks the feature debut of British-Palestinian writer-director Farah Nabulsi, who was Oscar nominated and won the BAFTA for her short The Present. She didn’t choose an easy path for her first feature, which she scripted and which stars Imogen Poots, Saleh Bakri, Stanley Townsend, Paul Herzberg and Andrea Irvine. One to watch is Palestinian newcomer Mohamed Abdel Rahman.
Devastated by the loss of his teenage son, The Teacher follows a Palestinian school teacher Basem El-Saleh (Bakri) who struggles to reconcile his risky commitment to political resistance with the chance of a new relationship...
- 8/30/2022
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The Brit List, the UK’s version of the Black List, received 134 script recommendations this year. The list of praiseworthy unproduced film scripts was led by supernatural thriller Benny In The Dark from screenwriter Phillip Morgan. Check out the full-list below.
The list, managed by UK producer Alexandra Arlango (The Duchess), is pulled together from recommendations by more than 90 UK film companies. To qualify, projects must receive a minimum of three recommendations.
The Brit List celebrates its tenth anniversary this year with a networking event in London on Monday 19 November. Since launch, 70 movies to appear on the list have gone into production, including pics such as The King’s Speech and Lion. This year also saw the launch of The Brit List TV as well as The Brit List website.
Arlango said, “The Brit List is not a competition, it’s a showcase. Our intention is twofold: to put the...
The list, managed by UK producer Alexandra Arlango (The Duchess), is pulled together from recommendations by more than 90 UK film companies. To qualify, projects must receive a minimum of three recommendations.
The Brit List celebrates its tenth anniversary this year with a networking event in London on Monday 19 November. Since launch, 70 movies to appear on the list have gone into production, including pics such as The King’s Speech and Lion. This year also saw the launch of The Brit List TV as well as The Brit List website.
Arlango said, “The Brit List is not a competition, it’s a showcase. Our intention is twofold: to put the...
- 11/19/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Brit List, the annual survey of British film executives’ favorite unproduced screenplays (similar to the Black List in the U.S.), was unveiled Monday in London with “Benny in the Dark,” a supernatural thriller by Phillip Morgan, heading the list.
The film, which garnered nine recommendations, is a “character-driven 1950s-set allegory for the unspoken societal fears around male depression.” It will be produced by House Productions, the company headed by Tessa Ross, the former controller of film and drama at Channel 4, and Juliette Howell, the former head of television at Working Title.
Morgan, whose credits include 2017 short “Blackmoor,” has another features screenplay in development, “E for English,” with Blue Shadow Films.
Following closely with eight recommendations was thriller/drama “Surge,” written by Rupert Jones and Rita Kalnejais, and set to be produced by Rooks Nest, BBC Films and Creative England. The film, set over 24 hours, is “a stripped-back...
The film, which garnered nine recommendations, is a “character-driven 1950s-set allegory for the unspoken societal fears around male depression.” It will be produced by House Productions, the company headed by Tessa Ross, the former controller of film and drama at Channel 4, and Juliette Howell, the former head of television at Working Title.
Morgan, whose credits include 2017 short “Blackmoor,” has another features screenplay in development, “E for English,” with Blue Shadow Films.
Following closely with eight recommendations was thriller/drama “Surge,” written by Rupert Jones and Rita Kalnejais, and set to be produced by Rooks Nest, BBC Films and Creative England. The film, set over 24 hours, is “a stripped-back...
- 11/19/2018
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Projects include Phillip Morgan’s Benny In The Dark.
The Brit List, the annual collection of unproduced UK screenplays, has unveiled its 2018 line up.
Now in its 10th year, the list highlights film projects voted for by an anonymous group of film industry professionals from more than 90 companies, including agents, financiers, producers and distributors.
This year there are 18 projects on the list. Topping them is Phillip Morgan’s Benny In The Dark, a supernatural thriller set in the 1950s, which received a total of nine recommendations. The film is set up at Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell’s House Productions.
The Brit List, the annual collection of unproduced UK screenplays, has unveiled its 2018 line up.
Now in its 10th year, the list highlights film projects voted for by an anonymous group of film industry professionals from more than 90 companies, including agents, financiers, producers and distributors.
This year there are 18 projects on the list. Topping them is Phillip Morgan’s Benny In The Dark, a supernatural thriller set in the 1950s, which received a total of nine recommendations. The film is set up at Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell’s House Productions.
- 11/19/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
There were two very good reasons to watch the original Embrace of the Vampire, and they're both missing from the remake. Will another buxom beauty step up to the plate to fill those huge voids? We'll find out soon enough because the flick is shooting now.
According to Variety, Alan Mruvka's Filmology Labs Entertainment is teaming with Grobman-Campbell Films to produce a remake of Embrace of the Vampire, the 1994 cult pic starring Alyssa Milano that was produced by Mruvka.
The erotic thriller is being financed by Lisa Hansen and Paul Herzberg of Cinetel Films along with Anchor Bay Entertainment, which is a division of Starz Media. Like a supernatural Fifty Shades of Grey, the story follows a virginal college student who is introduced to a dark world of carnal desires after being seduced by a handsome vampire.
Sharon Hinnendael, who starred in Adam Rifkin's Showtime series "Look" and...
According to Variety, Alan Mruvka's Filmology Labs Entertainment is teaming with Grobman-Campbell Films to produce a remake of Embrace of the Vampire, the 1994 cult pic starring Alyssa Milano that was produced by Mruvka.
The erotic thriller is being financed by Lisa Hansen and Paul Herzberg of Cinetel Films along with Anchor Bay Entertainment, which is a division of Starz Media. Like a supernatural Fifty Shades of Grey, the story follows a virginal college student who is introduced to a dark world of carnal desires after being seduced by a handsome vampire.
Sharon Hinnendael, who starred in Adam Rifkin's Showtime series "Look" and...
- 6/28/2012
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Berlin -- Move over, Pink Panther. Here come the Black Panthers.
Two English-language European film projects aim to bring leading figures from the U.S. Black Power movement to the big screen soon.
Franco-Algerian producer-writer-director Rachid Bouchareb, whose film "London River" screens here in competition, is setting up a movie on the early life of Angela Davis, a leading figure of the civil rights movement and one-time FBI renegade.
Meanwhile, Berlin-based Egoli Tossell films, whose latest picture, "Hilde," screens here as a Berlinale Special Gala, is in preproduction on a feature film based on Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale.
Davis, who once studied here at Berlin's Humboldt University, became a cause celebre in the late 1960s when she was sacked from her post as philosophy professor at UCLA for being a communist. She later found herself on the FBI's "10 most wanted" list after guns used in a...
Two English-language European film projects aim to bring leading figures from the U.S. Black Power movement to the big screen soon.
Franco-Algerian producer-writer-director Rachid Bouchareb, whose film "London River" screens here in competition, is setting up a movie on the early life of Angela Davis, a leading figure of the civil rights movement and one-time FBI renegade.
Meanwhile, Berlin-based Egoli Tossell films, whose latest picture, "Hilde," screens here as a Berlinale Special Gala, is in preproduction on a feature film based on Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale.
Davis, who once studied here at Berlin's Humboldt University, became a cause celebre in the late 1960s when she was sacked from her post as philosophy professor at UCLA for being a communist. She later found herself on the FBI's "10 most wanted" list after guns used in a...
- 2/5/2009
- by By Charles Masters and Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Political intrigue, double-crossing and dodgy sexual shenanigans are afoot at the Midlothian Hotel in the sadly ill-fated, not to mention ridiculously long-awaited, offering from the creators of that rough diamond, Revenge of Billy the Kid.
Any fans of 1991’s filthy Brit gem, Revenge of Billy the Kid, will have been eagerly awaiting the follow-up from the same team…and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, as this production has proved to be a real labour of love, beset as it has been by an unbelievable amount of setbacks. However, perseverance won out and 2002 saw the eventual release of their second and unrelated film, Room 36, and, although unrelated, there are a lot of touches from Billy that we know and love (and vaguely remember) still thankfully intact.
Room 36 is quite an ambitious departure from the aforementioned Revenge of Billy the Kid, with Director, Jim Groom and Producer, Tim Dennison at the helm once more,...
Any fans of 1991’s filthy Brit gem, Revenge of Billy the Kid, will have been eagerly awaiting the follow-up from the same team…and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, as this production has proved to be a real labour of love, beset as it has been by an unbelievable amount of setbacks. However, perseverance won out and 2002 saw the eventual release of their second and unrelated film, Room 36, and, although unrelated, there are a lot of touches from Billy that we know and love (and vaguely remember) still thankfully intact.
Room 36 is quite an ambitious departure from the aforementioned Revenge of Billy the Kid, with Director, Jim Groom and Producer, Tim Dennison at the helm once more,...
- 10/22/2008
- by Fiona
- Latemag.com/film
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