Keren Benbenisty

HD Video, Hebrew, English subtitles, 13’30 minutes. 2023

The film, named after a deadly virus in the citrus industry Tristeza (‘Sadness’ in Spanish and Portuguese), documents the artist’s failed attempts to grow a variety of blue oranges, raises questions about migration and belonging and undermines the concept of a homeland.From agriculture to genetic engineering, scientific facts are interwoven into the artist’s and her family’s story as they reflect her conflicts: to stay, to take root, to succeed in changing the DNA of an orange so that it will be its complementary color – blue. The film ends as it begins, with moldy oranges, but this failure produces a new blue orange, and its decaying remains become a series of images – landscapes of the country.

Text: Keren Benbenisty & David Stevens
Voice over: Keren Benbenisty
Image, sound, and editing: Keren Benbenisty
Sound Mix: Quentin Chiappetta