It’s 1987 and the Israeli army is in hot pursuit of 18 dairy cows in the town of Beit Sahour, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The cows are declared a threat to Israel’s national security after a group of Palestinians begin producing milk for the town’s residents. These newly minted dairy farmers have to learn the most basic skills - even just how to milk the cows! But they are determined to be a model of self-reliance and provide their community with alternatives to replace Israeli goods.

The Israeli soldiers find themselves in a game of cat-and-mouse as residents of the town work together to shuttle the cows from barn to barn. The fugitive cows of Beit Sahour become legendary and the “intifada milk,” often distributed under cover of night, is a part of the residents’ daily diet. Humorous and thought-provoking, The Wanted 18 shows the power of mass mobilization and nonviolent resistance to the Israeli Occupation during the First Intifada – an era too-often simplistically depicted with stone-throwing Palestinian youth facing armed soldiers. This is a poignant film about nation-building from the bottom up, by the people not the politicians.

The wanted 18 premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 and was awarded the best documentary award in Abu Dhabi, Carthage, Traverse City, and Al-Jazeera Film Festivals. The film was in the official submission lists for the foreign language and documentary categories of the 88th Academy Awards (Oscars).

Amer Shomali is a Palestinian multidisciplinary artist, using painting, films, digital media, installations and comics as tools to explore and interact with the sociopolitical scene in Palestine. 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 teaching at the Faculty of Art, Music and Design at Birzeit University.

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, Barjeel Art Foundation, The Samawi collection, Dalloul Art Foundation, The Museum of Manufactured Response to Absence (MoMRtA), Birzeit University Museum, Al-Qattan Foundation, Dar ElNimer, Bank of Palestine and Mr. George Al Ama.