For the sixth appointment of Cinema Permanente, Foragers, a film by Jumana Manna that moves between documentary and fiction to describe the impact of Israeli laws on nature protection, will be screened and presented. These laws, under the excuse of ecological concern, actually contribute to the cultural erasure of Palestinian communities advocated by the Zionist entity: by preventing Palestinians from gathering edible wild plants, they interrupt the transmission of ancient customs and exacerbate alienation from their land.

The screening will be introduced by a lecture by Paola Caridi, an author and journalist who has been covering the Middle East and North Africa for over twenty years. Her latest book, Il gelso di Gerusalemme, tells the story of the violent and coercive power exercised by humans over the landscape in Palestine and some other places in the Mediterranean from the perspective of trees.

Drinks will follow.

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 disposses them from their land while the occupation's 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.

Directed and Produced by: Jumana Manna
Camera: Marte Vold, Yaniv Linton, Ashraf Dowani
Sound Recording: Montaser Abu ‘Alul, Raja Dubayah, Ibrahim Zaher
Line Producer: Eyal Vexler
Editing: Katrin Ebersohn, Jumana Manna
Composition, Sound Design and Mix: Rashad Becker
Court Hearings co-scripted with Rabea Eghbariah
Co-casting Juna Suleiman
Colorist: Simon Veroneg
Title design: Nancy Nasr al-Deen

FEATURING
Aziza Manna & Adel Manna

Zeidan Hajib and his dogs Kishkou, Ma’moule,
Kharoube, Fad’ara, Dundun,‘Akiko

Court Hearings:
Mahmoud Shawahde as Ahmad Hosni
Nadia Na’amneh as herself
Ihab Salameh as Shibli
Falah Zu’bi as Khalil
Najma Hamdan as Wardeh
Samir Na’amneh as himself

Prosecutors (voice): Guy Elhanan, Noa Rozen

Sisters’ Lunch:
Aishe (Um Ussama), Mufidi (Um Anwar) and Jamila (Umm Muhammad) Huleihel

‘Akkoub Plantation: Nabil Nicoula

Additional Foragers:
Kayed and Amina Boshnaq, Salima Abu al Hof, Adam Haj Yahya

Patrollers:
Guy Elhanan, Oren Weiss, Uri Binyamini, Diaa Moghrabi

Co-commissioned by BAMPFA The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, BAK basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht; and The Toronto Biennale (2022). Supported by Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC, The Fritt Ord Foundation, Arts Council Norway – Kulturrådet.