Black Jews – Beta Israel

SUN 17 NOV
17:30 ARSENAL
Free admission

WHAT HAS CHANGED

Salomon Chekol   
Israel 2021 | Original Version with English subtitles | 15 min

Private Shai, an Ethiopian Jew, is on leave for Passover. The army has given him canned food so that his family can afford the traditional meals. When he accidentally discovers that his father has hidden a large sum of money at home, a scandal erupts.

SALOMON CHEKOL was born in Ethiopia in 1993 and moved to Israel in 1998, where he grew up in Ashdod. He attended a boarding school in Jerusalem. Salomon is a graduate of the “Seeing Afar” project, which, under the auspices of Channel 12, identifies talented high school students and helps them integrate into film studies. Solomon continues to be involved in the project as a mentor.

WITH NO LAND

Aalam-Warqe Davidian
Israel 2021 | Original Version with English subtitles | 83 min
In the presence of the director

This documentary uses eyewitness accounts and unique archive material to reveal the previously unknown background to “Operation Solomon”, which brought 15,000 Jews from Ethiopia to Israel over 30 years ago. It tells the story of the life-threatening actions of Jewish Ethiopian activists in Ethiopia, Israel and North America in the run-up to the operation and follows Operation 2021, which was intended to evacuate the remaining Beta Israel.

AALAM-WARQE DAVIDIAN (b. 1980) is an Ethiopian-Israeli filmmaker. She is a graduate of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem and has worked as a researcher for the documentary filmmaker Ada Ushpiz. Her short films KORKI and CLEANING TIME have been screened at festivals around the world. Aalam-Warque’s short film FACING THE WALL (2016) won the main prize at the Jerusalem International Film Festival.  Her debut feature film FIG TREE was nominated for the 2018 Ophir Award for Best Picture and won the 2018 Eurimages Audentia Award for Best Female Director at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.