The Wanted 18

Palestine, Canada, France, United Arab Emirates
Producer: Saed Andoni
Production Company: Dar Films Production

Project Logline:

During the Intifada in 1987 Palestinian activists were developing alternative and autonomous structures that would separate them economically from the Israeli military occupation.  In one such experimental project in Beit Sahour, residents hoped to produce dairy products as an alternative to the monopoly of the Israeli-made Tnuva. A few days after the start of production, the Israeli army invaded the farm, arrested the activists, and closed down the farm. The activists decided to smuggle the cows at night and hide them in their houses, backyards, and eventually in caves in the surrounding mountains. The Israeli army went on a massive, four-year hunt for the eighteen cows that represented autonomy for the Palestinians and a “threat to national security” for the Israelis.

Amer Shomali is a Palestinian practitioner using art, Digital media and technology as tools to explore and interact with the sociopolitical scene in Palestine focusing on the creation and the use of the Palestinian revolution iconography. He holds a master’s degree in animation from the Arts University Bournemouth in the United Kingdom and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Birzeit University, Palestine. He was born in Kuwait in 1981, and is currently based in Ramallah, Palestine.

Paul Cowan is a veteran Canadian documentarian who received an Oscar nomination for his 1979 doc Going the Distance. He also directed the controversial docudrama The Kid Who Couldn’t Miss, and was the cinematographer for the Oscar-winning 1983 short Flamenco at 5:15. A Palestinian born in Kuwait in 1981 and now based in Ramallah, Amer Shomali uses art, digital media and technology to explore and interact with Palestine’s sociopolitical scene, focusing on the creation and the use of Palestinian revolutionary iconography. He has a masters’ in animation from Bournemouth University.