Foragers depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with wry humor and a meditative pace.
Shot in the 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 defenses, 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.
Awards and Prizes
Winner, Green Dox, Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival, 2022
Special Mention for Harrell Award for Best Documentary Feature, Camden International Film Festival, 2022
Retueyos Nominee for Best Film, Gijón International Film Festival, 2022
Nominee, Grand Prize for Best International Feature, Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), 2022
“Director Jumana Manna creates an intimate connection between the plight of her subjects and the audience, heightened by meditative landscapes and textures, and moving use of interviews. This is a needed story of how the bond between people and nature cannot easily be broken.” – Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival
Friday, March 22, 2024
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
The Cinematheque
1131 Howe St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2K8
To reserve a free ticket:
This event is co-sponsored by Cinema Thinks The World, the UBC Film Society and DocUBC.
