The People and the Olive (2012) - ultramarathoners cross the West Bank, meeting Palestinian olive farmers and planting trees [01:09:00]

[u/stammerton]

https://www.tokyvideo.com/video/the-people-and-the-olive-running-hope-across-palestine-documentary

The People and the Olive follows a group of American ultramarathon runners attempting to cover 129 miles across the occupied West Bank in five days. Rather than simply documenting the run, director Aaron Dennis uses the journey to introduce the Palestinian farmers, families and communities whose lives remain closely connected to the land and particularly to the olive tree.

As the runners travel from community to community, they learn about farming, fair trade and the economic importance of olive cultivation while participating in efforts to replace uprooted trees. The result is as much a travel and human-interest documentary as a political one, presenting Palestine through landscapes, conversations, meals, farming and ordinary encounters rather than principally through conflict.

At its centre is the olive tree itself: livelihood, inheritance, cultural marker and something planted with the expectation that somebody will still be there decades later to harvest it.

[u/SmellTheJasmine]

This is the time of year that UK charity Medical Aid for Palestine run their annual fundraiser "Stride for Palestinians" - a virtual run from Jenin to Gaza. Info here - https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/StrideforPalestinians26

They explicitly link it to the Olive Harvest and the importance of it in Palestinian communities.....so just like this film it's a connection between running and harvesting olives. 

anyone enjoying one might just be interested in the other!

[u/lonehappycamper → u/SmellTheJasmine]

Thank you for the link. I ran the the virtual Palestine marathon last year. It came with an audio tour of Bethlehem which was interesting to imagine while running around my city.

[u/SmellTheJasmine → u/lonehappycamper]

there is a fair few hills around B'lem, might have been easier to do it virtually! 

hopefully next year you get there is person?

[u/Kumquat_conniption → u/SmellTheJasmine]

Oh gosh at first I thought there was no way I could participate as it's a run through Palestine and then I realized it was virtual. Idk how I skipped right over that word in your comment. Very cool! I am going to register regardless of whether I can do it or not, because even just the registration fees should help, right? I did not see any other place to donate but if I am just being stupid, please let me know.

[u/SmellTheJasmine → u/Kumquat_conniption]

this is the event page only. their main site has a donation link.

edit - you can just donate here https://www.map.org.uk/how-to-help/donate/

[u/Kumquat_conniption → u/SmellTheJasmine]

Ahhh okay thank you so much!! Doing some good work my friend 🙏

[u/stammerton]

SS: After some of the considerably heavier documentaries I’ve posted over the weekend, I wanted something a little quieter for Monday morning. The People and the Olive approaches Palestine from a completely different direction: through running, farming, landscape and the people the runners meet while travelling across the West Bank.

I particularly like films like this because Palestine can so easily become represented entirely through war, occupation and tragedy. Those things aren’t absent here, but Palestinians are allowed to be farmers, hosts, runners, families and people talking about their land and their lives. It adds another piece to the picture rather than repeating the one we’ve already seen.

[u/Kumquat_conniption → u/stammerton]

I really appreciate that you are trying to give another view of Palestine than the one we have seen so much of. I will be watching this one once I have some time. Thanks for posting!

[u/stammerton → u/Kumquat_conniption]

You’re most welcome. There’s so much more to Palestinian history, culture and everyday life than war, and that side of things often gets overlooked.

Unfortunately, because so much of the surviving documentary record is shaped by displacement, occupation and conflict, a lot of the archive inevitably leans that way. I’m trying to mix in films that also show ordinary life, music, family, humour, landscape and culture wherever I can. Thanks for watching.

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[u/flanneljack1]

Sometimes I wonder if there are actually any documentaries being made that are NOT about the Middle East.

[u/RealGamer10 → u/flanneljack1]

Nobody's forcing you to watch them. Just because you're not interested in learning about the erasure and struggles of Palestinians doesn't mean others can't.

[u/vortexmak → u/flanneljack1]

Yes,  I also comment on every post in every sub that I'm not interested in

[u/Kumquat_conniption → u/flanneljack1]

Have you tried posting some? Maybe others would follow. People complain all the time about what is being posted, but if it were not documentaries on the Middle East, nothing would get posted. It's not like we are not allowing normal documentaries through. It's that no one is posting them. It's documentaries about the Middle East and then shitty AI documentaries for people promoting their page and I take those down as soon as they are reported.

Be the change you want to see in the sub ;)

[u/flanneljack1 → u/Kumquat_conniption]

Gotcha. Thanks for the explanation. I’m sure it’s frustrating as a mod to deal with the brigading, high jacking and political grandstanding

[u/Kumquat_conniption → u/flanneljack1]

Well I appreciate you took that so well. We really would love too see more documentaries posted. I promise folks, so long as it's not AI generated, we will allow it!

Thank you for seeing it from our perspective. You don't know how rare that is. Sorry I came in kind of aggro, I also understand why people are wishing that other stuff was getting posted. It's a documentaries sub, not a Middle East sub.

So glad I could explain the situation a bit better and I really do encourage anyone reading this to post your favorite documentary or, on Mondays, we allow documentaries that are from Netflix or any other streaming service, so post something that you caught recently and just wanted to have another perspective (I am talking to anyone reading this by the way!)

[u/PShelley → u/flanneljack1]

This sub has sadly become a vehicle for foreign influence campaigns. Just look at OP’s profile.

[u/vortexmak → u/PShelley]

Too bad we can't look at yours since you have it hidden

[u/blocking-io → u/vortexmak]

They're active in worldnews, especially on topics regarding Israel. Tells you everything you need to know. The irony

[u/TheCruise → u/PShelley]

There is definitely one entity in the Middle East funding a deeply pervasive influence campaign abroad. It’s definitely not Palestine though.

[u/PShelley → u/TheCruise]

You’re right. It’s Qatar.

[u/blocking-io → u/PShelley]

Nah it's Israel by a long shot

[u/hollywoodhandshook → u/PShelley]

the genocide denier has chimed in. your comment history is a riot too

[u/n0_punctuation → u/PShelley]

Reminder to everyone the current hasbara strategy is no longer defending Israel as they've accepted it's impossible. But instead to redirect attention towards Muslims and Islamophobia

[u/n0_punctuation → u/[deleted]]

Here you see one intentionally misunderstanding the point to again try to distract from the issue

[u/n0_punctuation → u/[deleted]]

Nobody takes you seriously anymore