Abel

In the mountains of Sardinia and the inhospitable desert landscape of Palestine, shepherds have been herding livestock in the same traditional way for centuries. Experienced men drive bleating sheep and goats across fertile grazing spots. From a distance, the dancing white dots form an aesthetically appealing and meditative image against a background of dramatic mountain ridges.

But the landscape is far from deserted: the shepherds are all aware of the closeness of armed conflict. In this layered and subtle diptych featuring stunning cinematography, four shepherds tell in voice-over the story of their ancestors’ lives, and of their own, now overshadowed by the looming presence of war.

The Italian shepherds graze their flocks alongside and across a NATO military firing range, while the Palestinian Bedouins work on territory occupied by Israel and are in danger of losing their land, water and rights to advancing Israeli settlers. How do they experience this shadow of violence? Sweeping landscape shots are interwoven with archival footage of the shepherds’ predecessors and detailed impressions of their daily lives.