Kunstnernes Hus Kino has the pleasure to present the film Wild Relatives by Palestinian artist and filmmaker Jumana Manna. In 2012, an international agricultural research center was forced to relocate from Aleppo, Syria, to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon due to the Syrian Revolution turned war. Having left behind its seed bank, the research center began a laborious process of planting their seed collection from back-ups stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Following the path of this transaction of seeds between the Arctic and Lebanon, Wild Relatives captures the articulation between this large-scale international initiative and its local implementation in the Bekaa Valley, carried out primarily by young migrant women. The meditative pace of the scenes are a succession of processes, partially-scripted dialogues, and observations that tease out tensions between state and individual, industrial and organic approaches to seed saving, climate change and biodiversity.

As part of our concept Filmmaker meets Filmmaker, we have the pleasure to welcome Jumana Manna in conversation with artist Marte Vold prior to the viewing of Manna's film. To see the conversation, press PLAY above the title.

Foto: Julie Hrncirova