New mooovie remembers cows that 'threatened' Israel
Award-winning documentary “The Wanted 18” reveals the nonviolent ambitions of Palestinian activists in the first intifada who wanted to challenge Israel’s occupation through means of self-sufficiency and tax evasion.
An award-winning documentary has provided Palestinian and international viewers with a rare inside look into the first Palestinian intifada. Saed Andoni, the co-producer and driving force behind “The Wanted 18” was a high school student at the time of the Palestinian uprising that began in 1987 and ended with the Madrid peace talks and the Oslo Accord. Andoni, now in his early 40s, told Al-Monitor that it took him five years and $1 million to produce the film that focuses on one small story. In the process, however, the film has succeeded in giving an authentic and creative narrative of the first Palestinian intifada. The film has been shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and won Best Documentary of the Arab World at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. It also received a rare positive review from Variety magazine.
The film focuses on the fate of 18 cows that Palestinians from the small town of Beit Sahour decided to buy from an Israeli kibbutz to implement the intifada’s main nonviolent goal of independence and self-sufficiency.
