Foragers (Fundraiser)

Foragers: Documentary Film Screening

A film exploring the art of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel, raising questions of the complex politics of extinction.

In conjunction with Making Connections 24, join us for a screening of Foragers with all proceeds going towards The Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund. This fund is dedicated to the children of Gaza, providing vital medical, psychological and social care to all children of Gaza to find light in the ongoing conflict.

Foragers is a one hour documentary depicting the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with wry humour and a meditative pace.

Shot across Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, it employs fiction, documentary and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. The restrictions prohibit the collection of the artichoke-like ’akkoub and za’atar (thyme), and have resulted in fines and trials for hundreds caught collecting these native plants. For Palestinians, these laws constitute an ecological veil for legislation that further alienates them from their land while Israeli state representatives insist on their scientific expertise and duty to protect.

Following the plants from the wild to the kitchen, from the chases between the foragers and the nature patrol, to courtroom defences, Foragers captures the joy and knowledge embodied in these traditions alongside their resilience to the prohibitive law. By reframing the terms and constraints of preservation, the film raises questions around the politics of extinction, namely who determines what is made extinct and what gets to live on.

FORAGERS was made by visual artists and filmmaker Jumana Manna. Her work explores how power is articulated, focusing on the body, land and materiality in relation to colonial inheritances and histories of place. Her practice considers the tension between the modernist traditions of categorisation and conservation and the unruliness of ruination, life and its regeneration.

This is a ticketed event and a limited number of tickets will be available on the door.

Please book your ticket on Eventbrite here.

All proceeds of this screening will go to The Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund.

Please email the event organisers at [email protected] with any access needs ahead of the event.