The Wanted 18

Profound and absurd at once, this playful, award-winning documentary combines interviews, archival footage, and stop-action claymation to recount a rather surreal episode that occurred the First Intifada. The Palestinian townspeople of Beit Sahour, tired of having to purchase all dairy products from Israel, bought a herd of cattle from a sympathetic peacenik and learned to care for them. When officials finally took notice of these baby steps toward self-sufficiency and sovereignty, they declared the 18 cows "a threat to the national security of the state of Israel." As military forces converged on the town to capture the animals, their caretakers sent them into hiding, provoking an eight-day cow hunt. (Denver International Film Festival)