Promoting the history, culture and heritage of Jews of the Middle East and North Africa
Israeli film director of Iraqi-Jewish origin Duki Dror explores universal themes of uprooting, displacement and the search for identity.
The French Institute, Queensberry Place, London SW7
Tickets from the Box Office 020 7073 1350
£7/£5 (concessions) for one film
£9/£7 (concessions) for both films
The journey of Vaan Nguyen/ UK PREMIERE
Hebrew and Vietnamese, English subtitles/documentary
Israel/ 2005/ col/ 84 mins
6.30pm
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Israel offered asylum to several hundred Vietnamese ‘boat people’.
A generation has passed, yet Hoaimi Nguyen’s five Hebrew-speaking daughters do not feel entirely at home in Israel. Hoaimi visits Vietnam with his daughter Vaan, with a view to returning for good and reclaiming his confiscated lands. But nothing, they discover, is ever that simple.
Harif/Spiro Ark/ Israel embassy cultural department
My Fantasia/UK PREMIERE
Hebrew and English/ documentary
Israel/ 2001/ col/ 54 mins
8.30pm
Ten-year video diary by Duki Dror, the Israel-born son of Jewishrefugees from Iraq. Saddam Hussein ‘s invasion of Kuwait and firing of Scud missiles at Tel-Aviv in 1991 sparks Dror’s quest for his Iraqi roots. He pieces together his background by interviewing family members. They run a struggling Menorah factory, ‘My Fantasia’. But Dror’s own father is reluctant to reveal a secret in his distant past. A film of remarkable insights, irony and humour.
Followed by Q & A with the Director.
Harif/Spiro Ark/ Israel embassy cultural department