Onassis AiR | Athens Palestine Film Festival

“Foragers” (2022, 64min) depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine and Israel with wry humor and a meditative pace. Shot in the Golan Heights, Galilee, and Jerusalem, the director employs fiction, documentary, and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on local traditions and customs.

The restrictions prohibit the collection of artichoke-like ’akkoub and za’atar (thyme), which 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.

“Foragers” received the Harrell Award at the Camden International Film Festival in 2022 and the Green Dox at Dokufest IDSFF 2022.

Jumana Manna is a visual artist and filmmaker. Her work explores how power is articulated, focusing on the body, land, and materiality in relation to colonial inheritances and histories of place. Through sculpture, filmmaking, and occasional writing, Manna deals with the paradoxes of preservation practices, particularly within the fields of architecture, agriculture, and law. Her practice considers the tension between the modernist traditions of categorization and conservation and the unruly potential of ruination as an integral part of life and its regeneration.

Leila Jallad is a devoted Palestinian mother, grandmother, and community leader who has dedicated her life to serving others. Through her tireless efforts and compassionate leadership, she has made a lasting impact, earning the respect of all who know her. Her legacy of integrity, generosity, and service continues to inspire future generations.

Carol Sansour is a poet and cultural producer born in Palestine and based in Athens. Sansour is the director of the Athens Palestine Film Festival and founder of the not-for-profit organization Dounias, which is dedicated to producing and exhibiting art and culture from Palestine and the Arab world in Greece. Her first book, “In the Time of the Apricots,” was released in Cairo as a trilingual edition in 2019. Carol Sansour is an Onassis AiR Fellow for 2024/25.

Chrisoula Lionis is a writer, curator, and cultural producer based in Athens. Lionis is the co-director of the experimental pedagogical platform ‘Artists for Artists’ and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. She is the author of “Laughter in Occupied Palestine: Comedy and Identity in Art and Film,” “Comedy in Crises: The Weaponisation of Humour in Contemporary Art,” and the forthcoming “Praxes of Displacement: Contemporary Art as Strategy for Cultural Resilience.”

Drawing together a suite of art film and documentary screenings, artist talks, and workshops, the “In Frame” program is inspired by the intricate and centuries-old cultural connections that bind Greece and Palestine. Curated by the Greek/Palestinian cultural organization Dounias and delving into issues such as connection to land, memory, gender, and heritage, “In Frame” is inspired by the recognition that Palestinian communities are often spoken for but rarely directly heard.