Watch Natalie Portman’s Directorial Debut Teaser, A Tale of Love and Darkness,

For her feature directorial debut, Natalie Portman also wrote and starred in A Tale of Love and Darkness, an adaptation of the autobiographical novel by Amos Oz, wherein an account of the founding of the state of Israel is chronicled through events in Oz’s own life. The narrative begins in 1945 in Jerusalem, honing in on the Oz family while tensions between Jews and Arabs mount toward the end of the Mandate for Palestine (via EW).

The above video is in fact an international trailer, and although there is no English language dialogue, the film does not fail in provoking our emotions, or in communicating a turbulent history. Portman, alongside her cinematographer Slawomir Idziak (Black Hawk Down, Gattaca), capture the portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation, and lived through it’s trying history. Watch the trailer above.