A mist emerges, a howling wind kicks in and the forest turns dark. Two men pull out a tree and drag it like a dead body. In a forest in the mountains of Lebanon, where the unspoken pact of balance between the villagers and the forces of nature breaks, legend has it that revenge is bound to happen. ‎About the filmmaker <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/0779d6581208c8f2d1d47b5fe9cc9e5d.jpg" width="214" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">Marie-Rose Osta is an independent filmmaker and producer. She graduated with a Master’s degree in filmmaking, from ALBA University in Beirut, and has been working in the advertising industry while pursuing her filmmaking career. She independently wrote, directed, and produced two short films which competed in many international festivals. Marie-Rose Osta is currently in the development phase of her first feature film.﻿

Then Came Dark

In a forest in the mountains of Lebanon, two men pull out a tree and drag it like a dead body.

Interested in its parallels with the fate of the Jaffa oranges, the filmmaker tells her father about her intention to film the last orange grove in Los Angeles. Their disagreement transforms the grove into a space for contemplating the politics of storytelling in the multigenerational experience of Palestine in exile. ‎About the filmmaker <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/18f2b81be004e33289fc289c209bb658.jpg" width="214" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">Zaina Bseiso is a film director, producer, and curator working primarily in documentary and experimental cinema. Her work explores the relationship between the materialities of place and issues of memory, surveillance, corporeality, and nationalism. She received her Master’s degree in Film and video from the California Institute of the Arts. Bseiso is based in Los Angeles and was raised in Egypt by Palestinian parents. Her practice mainly traverses among Egypt, Palestine, Cuba, Mexico, and the US. She is co-founder of Bahía Colectiva, a community of filmmakers that collaborate in practice and curation.

When Light is Displaced

Interested in its parallels with the fate of the Jaffa oranges, the filmmaker tells her father about her intention to film the last orange grove in Los Angeles.

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 moves between 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 inherited love, joy and knowledge 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. About the filmmaker <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/2d719b07f5f0b3f6299237fe90a3cb10.jpg" width="225" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">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 archaeology, agriculture and law. Her practice considers the tension between the modernist traditions of categorisation and conservation and the unruly potential of ruination as an integral part of life and its regeneration. Jumana was raised in Jerusalem and lives in Berlin.&nbsp;She has participated in multiple film festivals including Berlinale, Viennale, BAFICI, IFFR, Cairo Cinema Days, Goteborg film festival, Ambulante, Cinéma du Réel, Art of the Real. Her film Wild Relatives (2018) won CPH:DOX’s New Visions Award, Sheffield Doc’s Environmental Film Award, DokuFest Kosovo’s Green Dox Award, and Palestine Cinema Days’ Sunbird Award. Manna’s solo exhibitions include Thirty Plumbers in the Belly, M HKA, Antwerp (2021); Tabakalera, San Sebastian, Spain (2019); The Setting of Noon, Home Works Forum 8: Ashkal Alwan, Beirut (2019); A Small Big Thing, Henie Onstad Museum, Høvikodden, Oslo (2018); A Magical Substance Flows into Me, Mercer Union, Toronto (2017), Malmö Kunsthall, Malmo (2016), and Chisenhale Gallery, London (2015).

Foragers

Foragers moves between documentary and fiction to depict the dramas between the Israeli Nature Protection Authority and Palestinian foragers. With a wry sense of humor, the film captures the inherited love, resilience and knowledge of these traditions, over an eminently political backdrop.

Minnesota

Foragers (+ Then Came Dark + When Light is Displaced)

Virtual Admission

Film Curator

Narrative Features

Documentary Features

Short Films

MiznaTwin Cities Arab Film Festival2446 University Ave W, Suite 115Saint Paul, MN 55114USA

Donation to Mizna

Donate

Gift Cards

These are all the passes tied to your account. Now, use our online schedule to reserve tickets. You can access your tickets via {{my_tickets_link|"My Tickets"}} or via the PDFs attached to each ticket order confirmation email. {{buy_pass_link|Looking to buy more passes?}}

These are all your purchased tickets. Open this page on your phone, and at the door tap the "Show Barcode" button and show your screen to the attendant. Prefer paper? Print the PDF attached to the order confirmation email, or click one of the gears below and select "Download tickets PDF". If purchasing multiple tickets, be sure to print or show each unique ticket barcode.

None available

Passes

TCAFF 2022 is a hybrid film festival, celebrating independent Arab/SWANA cinema virtually for audiences across the United States and in-person in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, striving to represent a diverse range of stories from the SWANA region and beyond.

Here's what's coming up soon. Can't make it? No sweat. Many live streams will be available for on-demand viewing as well.