A “wild relative” is the natural counterpart of a domesticated plant—its pre-agribusiness archive, its memory. Going back and forth between Lebanon and Norway after the closure of a seed bank in Aleppo, Jumana Manna’s latest film powerfully ties two burning contemporary issues: the war in Syria and the need to protect bio-diversity. She weaves an intimate texture, combining small acts of resistance against the oppression of farmers, the well-meaning policy of international organizations, and the intensive labor of young female refugees gathering the seeds. Manna is a US-born Palestinian filmmaker and sculptor whose films have been shown in such major festivals as the Berlinale, The Viennale, Rotterdam, Dokfest Kosovo, Sheffield, Cinéma du Réel, Haifa, and Göteborg. She lives and works in Berlin.
In person: Filmmaker Jumana Manna; curators Shoghig Halajian and Suzy Halajian
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