In Development
Plants, Pensions, Palestine
I am currently working on a feature lenght documentary based on the story of my great grandfather - Abd Al Ghaffar Katbeh, pictured in the photo above with the orphans of the Deir Amr agricultural farm school orphanage based in the hills near Jerusalem.
Palestine has the distinction of being the most photographed and filmed place in the
world before 1948, primarily due to its designation as the ‘Holy Land’. With the
establishment of the State of Israel, and over the following decades since, much of that material and what it documented has disappeared. Plants, Pension, Palestine will uncover the legacy of the British Mandate period in Palestine (1918 – 1948), tracing its many continuing impacts through three idiosyncratic routes: ex-colonial pensions; agricultural education; and a personal life story of Abd Al Ghaffar, who ran Deir Amr, a well-known orphanage and agricultural school near Jerusalem. Partially crowdfunded by a grassroots kharouf campaign, where every village in the country donated the cost of a sheep, the project became globally renowned – with celebrities of the time including Laila Murad, the Roosevelt brothers, and Frank Noel visiting. The film will chart the story of Abd Al Ghaffar and Deir Amr – its challenges, successes, and its eventual destruction in 1948. Ending up in Syria after being forcibly displaced from his land, Abd Al Ghaffar received his British pension there when he reached pensionable age as an ex British civil servant, revealing an ongoing relationship between colony and the ex-colonised.
Understanding the multiple histories of Palestine are crucial for understanding the
present moment and working towards a just future. The period of the British Mandate in Palestine is central to this understanding. The Mandate lives on through its remnants in British state institutions – yet is hidden from sight, enveloped in bureaucratic systems.
In this film I will explore what the responsibility of that relationship is, or should be,
today, when Palestine is in crisis like never before, with an estimated 17,000 children orphaned in Gaza since October 2023. As we search for solutions to these difficult realties, can models from the past inspire us today?
Here is a great article about this orpahange on Jerusalem Story - Deir Amr: A Haven for Palestinian Orphans That Inspired Awe Near and Far until It Was Forcibly Emptied in 1948