FORTY YEARS IN THE DESERT (2025-present)

Writer/Director: Olive Greenspan

Directors of Photography: John Beatty, Jules Hotz

Editor: Olive Greenspan

Status: In Post-Production

FORTY YEARS IN THE DESERT is an experimental “documentary fantasia” in which queer and transgender Jews reinvent ancient ritual to call for an end to violence in the name of zionism. Shot almost entirely on a virtual production "Volume," director Olive Greenspan harnesses the filmmaking process itself as a ritual container to manifest a Judaism that finds collective liberation with Palestine.

After October 7, queer and transgender Jews in Los Angeles began gathering, trying to figure out how to talk about their opposition to what was rapidly becoming a genocide in Gaza. Jewish ritual practice became a key part of these gatherings.

Director Olive Greenspan—themself a transgender Jew—became a member of this group, and wanted to document these gatherings. But filming was not possible.

Instead, Olive assembled a cohort to co-imagine a series of rituals within the context of a narrative film shoot—and these rituals would not just be for show. Could the filmmaking process itself becomes a ritual container for transformation?