May 11, 2015 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada
An acclaimed collaboration between Montreal-based Genie Award winner Paul Cowan and Palestinian artist Amer Shomali, the Intuitive Pictures/National Film Board of Canada animated documentary feature The Wanted 18 opens May 29 in Montreal at Cinéma du Parc and in Quebec City at Cinéma Cartier.
Blending interviews, archival footage and claymation, The Wanted 18 recounts one of the strangest chapters in the Israeli‒Palestinian conflict, when Shomali’s village of Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem, decided to create a co-operative dairy farm during the First Intifada, purchasing 18 cows from a kibbutz. The new dairy farmers are pacifist intellectuals and professionals who know nothing about operating a dairy farm. But after trial and error these “lactivists” succeed and the local population comes to depend on the “intifada milk”―so much so that the 18 cows are declared “a threat to the State of Israel,” becoming a symbol of resistance as hundreds of Israeli soldiers search for their hidden location.
Since its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, The Wanted 18 has been featured at festivals around the world. It was named Best Documentary Film from the Arab World at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival and received the Golden Tanit for Best Documentary Film from the Carthage Film Festival, as well as a Special Mention for the Gilda Vieira de Mello Prize at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva.
Critics have hailed the film as “mind-opening” and “ingenious” (Jay Weissberg, Variety); “one of the most entertaining and enlightening films you’ll see this year. […] There simply isn’t anything quite like The Wanted 18. It’s a true original” (Patrick Mullen, POV Magazine); and “a winning mix of documentary, stop-motion animation and re-enactment … an unexpectedly humorous account of one town’s experience of the First Intifada” (Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter).
Veteran Montreal producer Ina Fichman, head of Intuitive Pictures, met Shomali at a documentary-pitch event in Ramallah before embarking on an almost five-year odyssey to bring this story to the screen, in co-production with the NFB’s Nathalie Cloutier. Cowan and Fichman will be in attendance at The Wanted 18’s opening night in Montreal to take questions from the audience.
• The Wanted 18 was shot entirely in Palestine, where Shomali is based. This is Shomali’s first professional film as an animator.
• Veteran Canadian documentary filmmaker Paul Cowan’s credits include the Genie Award-winning NFB documentary Westray (2001), the NFB co-production The Peacekeepers (2005) and 2008’s Paris 1919, co-produced by the NFB and inspired by Margaret MacMillan’s acclaimed book.
• The Wanted 18 was produced by Ina Fichman (Intuitive Pictures) and Nathalie Cloutier (NFB) with executive producers Saed Andoni (Dar Films), Dominique Barneaud (Bellota Films) and Colette Loumède (NFB).
Toronto International Film Festival: http://tiff.net/festivals/thefestival
Abu Dhabi Film Festival: http://www.abudhabifilmfestival.ae/en/
International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights: http://www.fifdh.org/lng/en
Online screening room: NFB.ca
Facebook: facebook.com/nfb.ca
Twitter: twitter.com/thenfb
-30-
Pat Dillon
NFB Publicist
Cell: 514-206-1750
E-mail: p.a.dillon@nfb.ca
Twitter: @PatDoftheNFB
Lily Robert
Director, Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs
Tel.: 514-283-3838
Cell: 514-296-8261
E-mail: l.robert@nfb.ca
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) creates groundbreaking interactive works, social-issue documentaries and auteur animation. The NFB has produced over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 14 Canadian Screen Awards, 11 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
