The Teacher

"Adam" (Muhammad Abed Elrahman) and his recently incarcerated brother "Yacoub" (Mahmoud Bakri) are facing the compulsory demolition of their home to facilitate the arrival of new Israeli settlers and an altercation sees the latter lad killed and the former bent of revenge. His teacher "Basem" (Saleh Bakri) and a visiting volunteer "Lisa" (Imogen Poots) try to intervene to stop him doing anything stupid, and insist that they follow legal process. Well it's fairly clear that that isn't going to deliver very much, but as the teacher and the volunteer start to become a little more familiar with each other, we also realise it's equally clear that "Basem" is a little more hands-on with the resistance than his public persona might suggest. Indeed,...

The myriad challenges of daily living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of Gaza and the West Bank have increasingly become the subject of documentary and narrative features in recent years, chronicling the many hardships local residents face in just getting by. These films have collectively addressed an array of subjects, such as the encroachment of Israeli settlements, capricious residential demolition orders, constant and harsh government scrutiny and deferred justice for Palestinians. And all of these issues are now explored in this debut offering from writer-director Farah Nabulsi. Loosely inspired by true events, the film follows the complicated life of West Bank high school English teacher Basem El-Saleh (Saleh Bakri), a man bes...