Director: Hadara Oren / Israel 2024

Category: Current Affairs, Human Rights, Middle-East

Producer: Hadara Oren

Language: Hebrew, Arabic

Subtitles: English

Length: 69 minutes.

Bedouin shepherd communities who live in the magical spaces of the Jordan Valley have to deal with a variety of pressures and threats. The film follows the complexity of the ‘human layer’, that disturbs the peacefulness of the desert and awakens ancient struggles. All this, against the backdrop of, and perhaps in contrast to, the wonderful scenery of the desert.

In the Israeli Wild West—the West Bank—nomadic Arab communities struggle to survive under the weight of occupation. In this lawless and contested land, Palestinian shepherds are being displaced by Jewish settlers claiming pastures for their own herds. Amid the clash of stones, soil, people, and sheep, a group of defiant Israeli activists stands in solidarity with their Palestinian friends resisting injustice. In her raw and unflinching documentary, Hadara Oren offers an intimate look at a microcosm of the larger conflict, where Arab farmers, Jewish settlers, and young soldiers all find themselves entangled in a battle over identity, territory, and conscience—all seen through the eyes of those who refuse to look away – Amir Bogen, Lighthouse International Film Festival 

Since ancient times, Palestinian Bedouins have lived in the Jordan Valley. Over the stony desert terrain, they lead their goats to graze on the sparse, dry grass. But today the valley is under Israeli military and civil control, and the Bedouins are evacuated, relocated, and deported. Armed soldiers and hooded Jewish settlers drive them out of the so-called “firing zone,” while a small group of resolute activists defends them against violent threats. Armed only with phones, they rush to wherever clashes erupt, filming everything at great personal risk. Young soldiers—barely more than kids with guns—call their superiors in confusion, unsure of how to proceed. The activists believe peaceful coexistence is possible, but the situation seems increasingly hopeless, with irreconcilable positions: the shepherds’ staffs on one side, the soldiers’ rifles on the other. The documentary, produced without support from Israeli public funds, follows citizens whose vision sharply contrasts with that of those in power. – Film Festival della Lessinia