The Teacher (El Ostaz)
Qumra Projects
/ Feature Narrative / Palestine, United Kingdom, Qatar
In Arabic, English
Rated: This film has not been rated.
- Come back soon to see screening dates
Synopsis
Basem El-Saleh, a Palestinian school teacher, pieces his life together after the loss of his son. Basem habitually looks out for his son’s childhood friends, two fatherless brothers, Adam and Yacoub. Lisa, a recent volunteer at the school, begins to add new light to Basem’s life when she also starts to take an interest in the boys. A proof-of-life video of a captured Israeli soldier is presented by Israeli intelligence to the soldier’s American parents, Simon and Rachel Cohen. Simon knocks heads with Director Liberman, in charge of finding his son, as an exchange offer for over a thousand Palestinian prisoners reveals competing objectives. When Yacoub is killed by a settler, Basem and Lisa take an even deeper interest in Adam’s wellbeing, but when Adam discovers that Basem is involved in keeping the whereabouts of the abducted soldier a mystery, he becomes emboldened to seek revenge on the settler. He turns to Basem for help, which Basem refuses. A desperate Simon decides to take matters into his own hands. Adam looks to find his own means of enacting the justice he deserves, and Lisa starts to unravel Basem’s hidden life. Basem is forced to strike an impossible balance between his own motives, his growing love for Lisa and the sacrifice required to save Adam.