Wildcard Distribution have announced that the Irish documentary Apples of the Golan will open at the IFI Cinemas on Friday 16th January 2015.
Apples of the Golan tells the epic story of Majdal Shams, one of five remaining Arab villages in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Before the occupation there were 136 such villages, which have now mostly been destroyed. Cut off from their homeland since the events of the Six Day War, the villagers fight to maintain their national identity amid political uncertainty, border disputes and the Syrian Civil War. They are all connected to, and owe their existence to, the apples which grow all around the village. In many ways, as their resistance to occupation is generally peaceful, the apples are their bombs.
Irish film-makers Keith Walsh and Jill Beardsworth spent five years among the people of the village and have woven together, from the interlocking lives of the apple growers, rappers, salsa dancers, holy men, traitors, and freedom fighters that make up this unique community, a film that is a complex portrait of a place, a people, and the apple trees that root them to land. Apples of the Golan covers the four year period up until the Syrian conflict begins to turn into civil war, as the effects are being felt in the Golan Heights. It is a portrait of a village’s survival but also documents the beginning of its journey into the unknown.
Commenting on the cinema release, director Jill Beardsworth said: “We are delighted that our film is being released at a time when the Golan Heights region is at the centre of political discourse, both nationally and internationally.” Keith Walsh added: “The film was five years in the making, and it’s great that the story of this little known tribe and this forgotten Israeli occupation is being exposed will now be told, its story of separation, love, death and war is one that we feel will resonate.”
Apples of the Golan will be released by Wildcard Distribution in the IFI Cinemas, Dublin on Friday 16th January with more locations to be announced.
