Foragers

Jumana Manna, France 2022, 64 mins

Arabic, English subtitles

Foragers is a chase film depicting the Israeli Nature Patrol pursuing elderly Palestinians who gather plants classified as protected species, particularly the artichoke-like tumble thistle, 'akkoub, also known as "green gold" and Zaatar. In this documentary infused with fiction, Jumana Manna follows the lives of these elders as they practice the once-accepted cultural tradition of foraging. This right has been stripped from them by the occupiers under the pretext of preservation, with violations punishable by hefty fines and up to three years in prison. These so-called preservation laws serve as a thin ecological cover for racist legislation aimed at further alienating Palestinians and Syrians in the occupied Golan Heights from their ancestral lands.

With Souq Sounds