The 2022 tour was a victory lap for Contest winner Alisa Amador and also showcased local talents in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York.
When 42-year-old stockbroker-turned-filmmaker Farah Nabulsi was waiting to hear if she’d been nominated for an Oscar last month, she had to beg her three teenage sons to join her on the sofa at their West London home.
She needed moral support, she jokes today. ‘I said: “Come and sit with me. If it’s not there, I’ll need a hug. And if it is there, I’ll need a hug”.’
It’s not that her boys didn’t care. They’re just rather accustomed to their mother an untrained, first-time director winning things.
Her short film, The Present, about a Palestinian man and his daughter who set out to buy an anniversary gift for his wife a simple task that proves fraught due to the Israeli checkpoints they must pass through has already won 25 jury and audience awards at film festivals around the world. Most recently it won the Bafta for Best British Short Film.