Films
Sharing stories - gathering voices
Jewish Israeli human rights activist, Sahar Vardi, gives her testimony on Israeli culture, as she has witnessed it on the ground. Sahar Vardi is originally from Jerusalem where she runs activist café مبلا אםבאלה Imbala.
‘This land is coming back‘
We met Amal Wahdan in Ramallah, Palestine, as we were staying in her family home. One evening we sat down with Amal in her livingroom and spoke about her relationship with trees, the wall, the land, her dreams, her prison time and her message to the Israel and the international community.
‘Plant me in you‘
We met Nariman Tamimi in the small Palestinian village where she lives, with her family. It was just after she had been released from an Israeli prison together with her daughter Ahed Tamimi. We spoke about her childhood, the smell of rain on soil, her brothers death and childhood.
‘Stay a while’
We met Per in a forest near Oslo in Norway. Per serves as the director of Centre for Green Growth at the Norwegian Business School. He is a climate psychologist and has written about the human reaction patterns to the climate crisis. We asked him about what he calls 'Great Grief' and what he experiences trees communicating to him, in the forests behind Oslo.
‘Nostalgia for a home that is no longer there'
Two years in a row, we travelled around Jordan in the Middle East and through the borderlands of Syria. One day when we were volunteering at a refugee youth centre in Amman, we became friends with Ibrahim - a 17 year old young man from Iraq, who fled two wars with his family, the American led war in Iraq and the war in Syria. We spoke to him about his favourite tree, dreams, Jinn creatures, memories, heroes and his concept of home.
'Everybody can sing’
We met Jay at Udrejsningscenter Sjælsmark - a deportation camp in Denmark. We visited him in his room, as he is not physically able to move away from his bed. We brought some flowers and became friends with him. Jay is a true artist and a political refugee originally from Iran. He loves singing opera and he spoke about the meaning of life, Tom Jones, vocal tricks and sang two songs for us.
Jay was refused asylum in Denmark and the day after we recorded him, he was deported.
"I feel like I’m loosing a part of myself"
We sat down with Anna who is 19 years old and from Denmark. Recently Anna started an environmental group at her high school; her way of taking local responsibility in the midst of the present global ecological crisis. Anna shares how she experiences anxiety when she is out shopping, how she wants to fight for the planet and how she communicates with Nature.
'A generation born at the end of the world'
We met Adrian under a tree in Copenhagen. Adrian is in high school, finishing final year while he is an active part of the youth climate uprising, Klimastrejke - Fridaysforfuture Denmark. He spoke about how we are living the world to death, shared poetry and visions of dystopia while inspiring a mass civil disobedience based on love.
"The linear age of man is over"
We met Phyllis Young by a side-stream to the Missouri River, and sat down with her by the water. Her Lakota name is 'Woman who Stands by the Water'. We asked her about ancestors, her experience of the uprising against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and about her message to the young people of today going into the future.
'We are destroying our Mother'
We met Khaled on the land in Jordan, where he is creating the ALia EcoVillage of re-invented traditional Jordanian mudhouses, rainwater collection systems, amfitheatre and organic farming community. Khaled has been a climate activist for decades and spoke to us about the dry land, his experience of the interconnectivity of life and how it is possible for humans to keep polluting.
"America is great, if you are white"
We met Wasté Win Young at her home in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, she was sewing 100 dresses for a ceremoni which will be held in The Black Hills. Wasté is from the Lakota Dakota tribe and has been active in the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline construction. We asked her how she experienced being a 'water protector' and what America is to her.
“Passport - what a silly dream…“
Jan is 19 years old and from Syria. We borrowed a car, to shelter us from the rain, and Jan told us about his love of music, singing, and how he dreams about becoming a citizen.