Synopsis
In Nablus, on the West Bank of Palestine, an estimated 70% of residents live below the poverty line and the children of the town have been known as the “lost generation” since the start of the second Intifada. Perhaps astonishingly, however, more than 90% of children here succeed in attending university. Education is a highly-prized goal in the besieged Palestinian community and this film documents the ordinary and extraordinary life and routines of teachers and pupils at two schools in Nablus—where teachers remain unpaid for months on end; classrooms are desperately overcrowded; pupils miss lessons because they have been arrested and the ever-present surrounding violence can often result in tragedy. Filmmaker Tom Evans spent several months inside two schools in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, at the close of 2007. Throughout the film, we look at the daily struggle of getting an education under occupation; that it is not easy trying to keep up with your schoolwork when your classroom is on the frontline. We follow the two head teachers and their staff as they teach, inspire pupils and survive the challenges of life in Nablus; Osaid, as he writes the end-of-year exams he missed while in prison; the teachers as they anxiously await pay day and the tragic pandemonium that breaks out when Israeli soldiers launch a nearby raid to root out militants.
Director
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Tom EvansTom Evans has produced films for the BBC, Channel 4, al-Jazeera English and Teachers’ TV. Recent projects include Battlefront (winner of an EMMY, Nominated for a BAFTA and winner of a BANFF world television award), a major Channel 4 documentary series and a series of short films for the BBC.
Credits
- Director Tom Evans
- Producer Ingrid Falck, Taylor Downing
- Cinematographer Tom Evans, George Azar
- Editor Sam Bennett
- Music Audio Networks
- Sound Ghassan Khader
Production Company
- Production Company Flashback Television Ltd
- Address 11 Bowling Green, London EC1R 0BG, UK
- Tel 44 20 7490 8996
- Fax 44 20 7490 5610
- Email ingridfalck@flashbacktv.co.uk
Distributor/World Sales
- Distributor/World Sales Al Jazeera Network
- Address PO Box 23127, Doha, State of Qatar
- Tel 974 489 7453
- Fax 974 489 7472
- Email Carlotta.gelmetti@aljazeera.net