FILMAKERS LIBRARY

This colorful film about the Jews of India brings to life a remarkable history dating back two millennia. A microscopic minority living within a vast, varied and densely populated nation, they co-existed for all those years in an environment of tolerance and pluralism. But a watershed was reached in 1947 with the declaration of Indian independence and in 1948 with the creation of Israel. Many of the Jews of India decided to "leave their home to find their home: their religious loyalty stronger than their national loyalty to India."
The filmmaker travels to the cities of the fascinating subcontinent of India where the remainingJews have made their homes, to Goa, Bombay, Cochin, Calcutta. There she finds those Jews studying the Talmud, adhering to religious custom, wearing yarmulkah. In many ways, they seem even more observant than Western Jews.

"A small, smart documentary about a big subject – the situation of Jews in India. It’s a passionate film, filled with wonder at the survival of the Jewish community in India and fittingly elegiac as that community declines in numbers." John Doyle, The Globe & Mail Broadcast Week
"...full of vivid images. Recommended." MC Journal; The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship

Association for Asian Studies, 2001
First Prize, Seventh Annual Jewish Video Competition, Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California, 2000
Gold Plaque, INTERCOM International Communications, Film & Video Competition, Chicago, 2000
Silver Award, Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, 2000

50 min. Video or DVD. Sale $350. Video rental $75.

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