Qatar Living speaks to the writer, producer, and director, Farah Nabulsi, to learn more about her experience winning the best short film Award with Ajyal Film Festival.

Farah is a Palestinian director and human rights advocate. She was born and raised in London as a daughter to a Palestinian mother and father.

She graduated from business school, and then she started to work as a broker for many years, that was all before she moved into filmmaking.

"My educational and professional background are in finance and business, but a few years back, after what I call a life-changing trip to Palestine, and subsequent trips that followed, I essentially threw caution to the wind and ‘chose’ to become a filmmaker by adapting some personal writings and producing them as short films," she said.

She is a human rights advocate as well as the founder of Native Liberty Productions, which is a media production company for human rights and injustice in Palestine.

Farah  founded oceans of injustice, which is an online educational platform with news from Palestinian-occupied territories.

"Even though I had never worked in the film industry and had no past experience or formal or informal education in film, I felt compelled to tell these human stories I’d come across and express myself creatively, and as someone who has always loved film, and always had a very vivid visual and verbal imagination, filmmaking was what I was drawn to as the best way to tell these stories," she added.

Farah screened her work in many international events in the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

She is the director and the co-writer of her 24-minute short film -The Present. The film was screened at Ajyal Film Festival in Qatar this year. She did three other short films as well.

The Present is a story about a man and his young daughter who live in Palestine and dealing with the indignities of checkpoints.

"The story itself is about a hardworking Palestinian man, Yusef and his young daughter Yasmine, spending the day together, going to buy a gift for his wife on their anniversary - but such a simple task is not as easy as it should be, when you are transported into the landscape of Apartheid and Military Occupation," she described.

"At its essence, the film is about a man who wishes to live a dignified life with the freedom to go and come as he pleases in his daily movements, like most other people in the world can. It’s a very simple story that speaks volumes about an absurd and cruel reality that actually does exist in present day Palestine," she added.

This short film is qualified for the Oscars after winning the Jury Award, and many other awards all around the world.

"So far, The Present has received over 20 Jury and Audience Awards at some amazing film festivals around the world - in the US, UK, Italy, Spain, Japan, France and beyond as well as having qualified for the 2021 Oscars, which is all of course, wonderful!," Farah added.

The Present has also won the 2020 Hilal Jury Award at Ajyal Film Festival 2020.

"It is great! The Hilal Jury Award at Ajyal Film festival was especially meaningful to me, as it is a young Jury comprised of youth from the Arab world, and the youth are the future. They are completely raw, open and honest about how a film impacts them," she described.

Farah turned from being a banker and broker to being a filmmaker. Her certificates never stopped her from starting her journey in film making, where her passion led her to where she reached today.

"The late director Stanley Kubbrick said: (The best education in film is to make one) and that’s exactly what I did. It was tough, but sometimes just jumping into the deep end is the best way – a sink or swim kind of thing," she said.

Farah found her inspiration in many things and in so many people. However, what really inspired her deeply inside was the resilience.

She said, “So many things and so many people inspire me. It could be a stunning piece of music or a sunset. It could be a moment during exercise, when my blood, endorphins and adrenaline is pumping, and an idea just comes to me about a scene. It could be a photograph or a conversation, but most of all the resilience and they will do go on despite the ongoing oppression, double-standards and adversity that Palestinians face, is a huge inspiration to me."

Farah wants people to contemplate the film, even after they have seen it.

“I want people to feel and wonder what such a life under military occupation and apartheid means for people like Yusef and Yasmine,” she said.

“When daily life is deliberately made so hard and stressful on an ongoing basis. This is a fiction film based on a true situation on the ground today in Palestine, so I want people to consider this cruel, absurd reality – and ask, would they accept it for themselves?” she added.

COVID-19 affected everyone in various ways. However, some people took advantage of this period to benefit themselves and their projects.

Farah mentioned that her short film, The Present, has been doing well at many film festivals during this period. However, unfortunately, she was not able to travel for those film festivals.

"In the bigger scheme of things, I really can’t complain. Having to stay put and mostly at home has meant that I have had the time to start working on developing what I hope will be my first feature film,” she said.

“Once COVID-19 is behind us, I hope I will be in the position to move straight into production. Personally, it has meant that I can spend more time at home and with my family than would have been the case during such a busy year for me, so in some ways I am also grateful for that," she added.

Farah advises young directors and filmmakers to hold on to their passion and to work hard.

"When you can, and if you can, do work that feeds your soul. Work that has depth and meaning and plays a part in raising the global social conscience. You will find that that is the work that you will feel most rewarded by, that audiences are thirsty for, make for a better world and that will ultimately be the most successful work you do," she ended.

 To know more about Farah and her short films, you can check her on her Instagram: @farah.nabulsi and on Facebook

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