Funded by several art organizations, the hybrid documentary “Alfoon” by Berlin-based Palestinian sculptor and filmmaker Jumana Manna investigates the ancient Palestinian practice of collecting wild foods such as thyme and the delicacy “akoub”. Like plants with medicinal properties, and how these traditions conflict with Israeli nature conservation laws that essentially criminalize the Palestinian herb-picking culture. Including some unexpected humor, Mana’s gentle approach is more poetic meditation than commercial novels. “Foragers” has already been shown as an installation at the Berkeley Museum of Art in California, one of the financiers. It should be welcome in museums and other media centers.
Israel declared wild thyme a protected species in 1977. Mana uses archival footage to show that shortly thereafter the kibbutz in the Galilee began growing the herbs and selling them back to the Palestinians, as well as exporting them to Arab countries, using packaging to make them. It appears as a Palestinian product. Meanwhile, Aqoub made it onto the protection roll after nearly 30 years. Those I interviewed assert that this is only because Arabs love him so much.
With foraging most common in the East Jerusalem Hills, Galilee, and Golan Heights, the film features some beautiful landscape shots. Among the most interesting visuals are long shots of people that only appear swaying in green and then completely disappear from view as the Israeli Nature Patrol arrives on the scene.
It appears that the older Palestinians were arrested and prosecuted for their foraging activities. Penalties include heavy fines or imprisonment. The written confrontations between the unseen plaintiffs and the unrepentant collectors who argue that they are collecting plants for domestic use are the mixed side of the film. Manna wrote dialogues with lawyer and researcher Rabih Igbariya, and they portrayed the foraging as an act of survival and resistance against colonialism, and a continuation of a culinary tradition that dates back hundreds of years. The outraged researchers also point out that their experience with severing the thorny echinoderms is helping the plant regenerate.
As in some of her short films, Manna also makes use of her family, showing her academic parents Aziza and Adel the immense satisfaction of their search for many wild plants and herbs not far from their home in East Jerusalem. She also follows Aziza on a visit to her older sisters in the Galilee, where they share a delicious-looking meal of herb-covered bread and cooking oakob.
Zidane Hajeb is another memorable fodder. Accompanied by his six lively dogs and carrying Akub choppers in his bag, the old man knows the best places to harvest his contraband. Living amid the ruins of a stone shed on land that was farmed by the director’s ancestors, he exemplifies the Palestinians’ intimate historical relationship with nature.
Mana, an up-and-coming artistic figure who has studied in Jerusalem, California and Norway, works here again with collaborators from her 2018 documentary Wild Relatives, including cinematographer Mart Fuld and editor Katrin Epperson. The hilarious musical score and Rashad Baker’s vocal mix make parts of the film feel like a chase between foragers and the Israeli patrol.
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