FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION THE ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE FOR
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

THE PRESENT

On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy is it to go shopping?
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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION THE ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE FOR
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

THE PRESENT

Watch Now On

On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy is it to go shopping?

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The Cast

Saleh Bakri

Saleh Bakri is a Palestinian film and theatre actor. He is considered one of the most well-known and talented actors in Arab independent cinema.

In 2007, Bakri appeared in his first two films: Eran Kolirin’s critically acclaimed, The Band's Visit, which won numerous awards including Un Certain Regard, Jury Coup de Coeur at Cannes, and Salt of This Sea by Annemarie Jacir, which premiered at Cannes in 2008. Salt of This Sea was Saleh Bakri's debut performance in an Arab film and went on to be Palestine's official submission for the Academy Awards.

The following year he portrayed renowned director, Elia Suleiman's father, Fouad, in Suleiman’s, The Time That Remains, which premiered at Cannes and TIFF. In 2011, he appeared in Radu Mihaileanu's movie The Source alongside Leïla Bekhti, Hafsia Herzi, Biyouna, Sabrina Ouazani and Hiam Abbass. Other projects include Annemarie Jacir's second feature film When I Saw You and Fireworks, a short film directed by Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese.

He played the eponymous protagonist in the Italian thriller Salvo, which won the Critics Week Grand Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In 2015 Bakri appeared at the Royal Court Theatre in the play Fireworks and as Talal in Majid Al Ansari’s critically acclaimed psychological thriller, Rattle the Cage which premiered at BFI London Film Festival. In 2017 he played main protagonist, Shadi alongside his father in Annemarie Jacir’s multi award-winning film, Wajib and the main role of Yusef, in Farah Nabulsi’s Oscar and BAFTA 2021 nominated short film, The Present.

Farah Nabulsi

(Director, Co-Writer & Executive Producer)

Farah Nabulsi is a Palestinian British filmmaker, born, raised and educated in the UK. She left the corporate world in 2016 to start working in the film industry as a writer & producer of short fiction films, exploring topics that matter to her. This includes Today They Took My Son, endorsed by renowned British Director Ken Loach, screened at the United Nations and officially selected to top tier international film festivals.

In 2019, she directed her first film, The Present, which she also co-wrote. The film stars renowned actor, Saleh Bakri. It premiered at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2020 and won the coveted Audience Award for Best Film. It had its North American premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Best Live Action Short, qualifying it for the 2021 Oscars.

While The Present continues to pick up numerous audience and jury awards as it continues with film festival circuit around the world, it was nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA 2021, as well as been licensed to Canal+ (France), Pacific Voice (Japan), Telefonica (Spain) and Netflix Worldwide.

Farah is currently in development of her debut feature length film, The Teacher.

Ossama Bawardi

(Producer)

Ossama Bawardi is an independent producer working in Palestine and Jordan. Bawardi was involved in various productions including Salt of this Sea, Paradise Now, and Waiting for Salah Al Din before focusing his work more on producing. 

He produced Annemarie Jacir’s feature film When I Saw You which won Best Asian Film at the Berlin International Film Festival in addition to nine other awards. The film’s production was noted for being entirely Arab financed. He produced Horizon, In Overtime, Mare Nostrum and The Present. 

He also directed and produced the short film Haneen. He is the line producer of (No) Laughing Matter, A Stone's Throw from Prison as well as numerous other films both fiction and documentary. He line produced Amin Matalqa's The Rendezvous starring Stana Katic, Mai Masri's 3,000 Nights and Barbara Eder's Thank you for Bombing. 

He produced Wajib, winner of thirty-six international awards including Best Film in Mar Del Plata, Dubai, Amiens, Washington DC and Kerala. Most recently he produced The Translator by Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf, as well as the new Jim Caviezel film. 

Bawardi is a member of the EAVE Producer’s Network and the Asia Pacific Screen Academy.

Mohannad Malas

(Executive Producer)

Mohannad Malas is a Lebanese American real estate investor based in Irvine, CA. 
 
Mr. Malas supports education, innovation, and film making. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Claremont Graduate University (CGU), and on the Board of Trustees of the University of California Irvine Foundation (UCI). He also serves on the UCI Law School Board of Visitors, and is a founding board member of the UCI Beall Applied Innovation. 

Mr. Malas has executive produced films and documentaries having a strong social message including: On Common Grounds, AmericanEast, The Game Changers, and 1948: Creation & Catastrophe amongst others.

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