Wild Asparagus

From Viennale

Avi Mograbi and Ali Al Azhari wander the site of what once was Saffuriyya, the Palestinian village from which Ali was expelled during the 1948 Nakba. They search for remnants of the former settlement, yet find only nature—mallow, fennel, luffa, fenugreek, asparagus. The surroundings bring Ali’s memories forth, and he shares them with the filmmaker in vivid detail. A sequence originally discarded from a previous film by Mograbi, HALAYON is a poignant piece of direct cinema that casually stresses a vital fact: even amid human catastrophe, the land continues to sprout, full of hope. (Salvador Amores)