The Teacher (2023) — Farah Nabulsi

Occupied Palestinian Territory/Qatar/United Kingdom, DCP, 115 mins.

A Palestinian school teacher struggles to reconcile his commitment to political resistance with emotionally supporting one of his students. When a student is killed by an Israeli settler, the teacher’s political life becomes intertwined with his role in the community. He reveals his past as well as stories of loss and heartache as he develops a romantic relationship with a volunteer NGO worker from the UK. Starring the inimitable Saleh Bakri, the film depicts a powerful story about how the Israeli occupation in the West Bank impacts the lives of individuals, specifically focusing on the threat of settler violence and the ongoing displacement and destruction of Palestinian land and homes.