NOVEMBER 11 - 24, 2022
barbican cinemas | ica | curzon soho | soas
DOUBLE BILL
FORAGERS | SOUP OVER BETHLEHEM
SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER | 18:30
BARBICAN CINEMA 2, SILK STREET, EC2Y 8DS
With wry humour and a meditative pace, Foragersfollows how Israeli nature protection laws impact the Palestinian custom of foraging for wild edible plants.
For Palestinians, these laws, which result in fines and court orders, constitute an ecological veil for legislation that further alienates them from their land. Israeli state representatives insist on their scientific expertise and duty to protect.
Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, artist and filmmaker Jumana Manna follows the plants from the wild to the kitchen, catching the chases between the foragers and the nature patrol. Foragers gracefully weaves together fiction, documentary and archival footage, with an ominous sound design accentuating resilience against the omnipresent settler-colonial backdrop.
Beforehand, the short film Soup Over Bethlehem depicts an ordinary Palestinian family at dinner; what starts as a discussion about the national dish 'mloukhieh' soon evolves into a personal conversation about politics.