Farah Nabulsi

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]

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]