The Wanted 18

By Amer Shomali & Paul Cowan

2014, Canada, 75 min

Through a clever mix of stop motion animation and interviews, The Wanted 18 recreates an astonishing true story: the Israeli army’s pursuit of 18 cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared “a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.” In response to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, a group of people from the town of Beit Sahour decide to buy 18 cows and produce their own milk as a co-operative. Their venture is so successful that the collective farm becomes a landmark, and the cows local celebrities- until the Israeli army takes note and declares that the farm is an illegal security threat. Consequently, the dairy is forced to go underground, the cows continuing to produce their “Intifada milk” with the Israeli army in relentless pursuit. Recreating the story of the “wanted 18” from the perspectives of the Beit Sahour activists, Israeli military officials, and the cows, Palestinian artist Amer Shomali and veteran Canadian director Paul Cowan create an enchanting, inspirational tribute to the ingenuity and power of grassroots activism.

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Making of

About Amer Shomali

Amer Shomali is a Palestinian multidisciplinary artist who uses painting, films, digital media, installations and comics as tools to explore and interact with the sociopolitical scene in Palestine. Much of Shomali’s work examines the creation and the use of the Palestinian revolution’s iconography. His art works are part of several collections: the British Museum, the Arab World Institute, the Barjeel Art Foundation, the Samawi Collection, the Museum of Manufactured Response to Absence (MoMRtA), the Birzeit University Museum and the Al-Qattan Foundation. Shomali co-directed an award-winning animated documentary, “The Wanted 18”, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014. The film was awarded the best documentary award in the Abu Dhabi, Carthage, Traverse City and Al-Jazeera film festivals. “The Wanted 18” was in the official submission lists for the foreign language and documentary categories of the 88th Academy Awards. Born in Kuwait in 1981, Shomali holds a BSc in Architecture from Birzeit University in Palestine and a master’s degree in Animation from Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom. He is currently based in Ramallah, Palestine, and teaches at the Faculty of Art, Music and Design at Birzeit University.