Palestinian film 'The Present' wins best short film award at BAFTA

The Present, a short movie set in the occupied West Bank near Bethlehem and directed by British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi, won the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for best short film on Saturday. The Present is Nabulsi's directorial debut and was co-written with Palestinian filmmaker and poet Hind Shoufani.

This touching 24 minute film follows Yusuf, a Palestinian man - (a powerful, understated performance from Saleh Bakri) and his young daughter Yasmine (Maryam Kanj), who set out in the West Bank to get some groceries and buy his wife a gift to celebrate their wedding anniversary. The relationship between father and daughter is finely drawn.

Beautifully shot, in a few short minutes The Present showcases the struggles ordinary Palestinians go through every day, negotiating segregated roads and checkpoints manned by heavily armed soldiers.

Before BAFTA, The Present had already won several awards at international festivals, including Audience Award at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Brooklyn International Film Festival and at Arab Film Festival (AFF), Festival Prize at Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Best Actor and Gold Medal at Manhattan Short Film Festival, among 20 other recognitions. The Present is also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. It certainly gets my vote.

The Present has now debuted globally on Netflix.

See a trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kl09vy6p2c

Read an interview with the director HERE