The official poster for ‘A Tale of Love and Darkness.” Photo: IMDb.

The first English-language trailer for Natalie Portman’s directorial debut — A Tale of Love and Darkness — based on Israeli author Amos Oz’s memoir, was released on Thursday.

The movie, originally filmed in Hebrew, tells the story of Oz’s childhood in Jerusalem at the end of the British Mandate and the early years of Israel’s independence. Portman, who was born in Israel and speaks fluent Hebrew, plays the lead role of Fania, the author’s mother. She struggles to raise her son as she deals with inner demons, a married life rife with unfulfilled promises and a world surrounded by bloodshed.

The English trailer for Portman’s film includes clips of the actress/director speaking in Hebrew. In one scene, Fania tells her son, “Even after you live out your entire life, and have all kinds of experiences, your innocence will never abandon you.”

The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last year. At the Jewish Film Festival in New York City in January, Portman said she read Oz’s memoir almost a decade ago and was “so, so touched by his language and his story, of course, and felt so much closeness to the parallels to my own family’s history, especially the almost religion of words and love of language.”

A Tale of Love and Darkness will be released in theaters in the US on Aug. 19.

Watch the trailer below.