Director/Producer: Avishai Yeganyahu Mekonen & Shari Rothfarb MekonenIn 1984, the Beta Israel, a secluded 2,500 year-old community of observant Jews in the northern Ethiopian mountains, fled a dictatorship and began a secret and dangerous journey of escape. Avishai Mekonen, then a 10 year old boy, was among them. Here he breaks the 20 year silence around the brutal kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus. In so doing the film explores issues of immigration and racial diversity in Judaism.
Post-screening discussion with Avishai Yeganyahu Mekonen.
Presented in cooperation with Be’chol Lashon.
USA & Israel 2012, 60 mins. English, Hebrew and Amharic w/English subtitles.
7:00pm
TINGHIR-JERUSALEM shown with IFRANE 2011
TINGHIR-JERUSALEM, ECHOES FROM THE MELLAH: The Rediscovery of a Judeo-Berber Culture
Director: Kamal HachkarKamal Hachkar grew up in France with the idea that all Berbers were Muslims. From his grandparents he learns that some Berbers were Jewish and that in many villages, Muslims and Jews lived together for a long time. His search leads him to Israel where he meets families originally from Tinghir. Elders spoke of their lives in Tinghir, answering many of his questions. On meeting Jews of his generation, with origins in Tinghir, Kamal realizes that he is not alone in his desire to restore this buried part of their identities. He hopes that his generation will be able to acknowledge the bonds broken by history.
France/Morocco/Israel 2011, 52mins. French, Berber, Arabic and Hebrew w/English subtitles.
IFRANE 2011: The First Holocaust Conference in the Arab World
Director: Haim ShiranThe Muslim students of the Mimouna Club of Al-Akhawayn University in Morocco have been moved to explore the Holocaust, a taboo topic in the contemporary Arab world. Inspired by the Royal Proclamation of King Mohammed VI (March 2009), they created this conference within which to fully appreciate the heroic actions of King Mohammed V during the Vichy period, and to deepen their understanding of their Jewish past. New York students and leaders from KIVUNIM attended with a survivor of the Holocaust.
Post-screening discussion with filmmakers Kamal Hachkar and Haim Shiran, Peter Geffen (Director of KIVUNIM), and Elmehdi Boudra and Laaziza Dalil from the Mimouna Club in Ifrane, Morocco. A reception follows.
Morocco 2011, 20 mins. French, English w/English subtitles.
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