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May. 12, 2021
Two of the five movies that competed last month for the Academy Award for Best Short Film were filmed on the same small, disputed strip of land in the Middle East. Tomer Shushan’s “White Eye” was filmed in Israel, and “The Present,” by British-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi, was filmed in the Palestinian Authority.
Open gallery view
An Israeli soldier checks the identity cards of Palestinian women at a checkpoint near the town of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, this week.Credit: HAZEM BADER - AFP
Granted, the American film “Two Distant Strangers” ultimately won the coveted prize. But for Nabulsi, being nominated was not just the climax of a dizzying string of successes that “The Present” has enjoyed over the past year, but also an opportunity to provide a prestigious platform for her people, who are forced to cope with the Israeli occupation on a daily basis.