Above: A Walk to Beautiful, a recipient of the Audience Award
for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film
Festival in 2007, is one of the films featured at the 5th Annual
Sheba Film Festival.

By Tadias Staff

Published: Monday, June 9, 2008

New York (Tadias) – The NYC Ethiopian Millennium Celebration series will continue with the 5th Annual Sheba Film Festival on Saturday, June 15th, at the JCC in Manhattan (Amsterdam and 76th Street).

“The films represent a diverse cross-spectrum of Jewish and Ethiopian life. The festival will begin with Caravan 841, directed by Zion Rubin, about Moshe, an 11 year-old Ethiopian boy who lives in the ‘Atidim’ caravan site located in Western Galilee while he awaits the arrival of his mother from Ethiopia”, said Beejhy Barhany of BINA, the organization that plays host to the annual Sheba Film Festival.

Meanwhile, “A Walk to Beautiful, directed by Mary Olive Smith, tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. The film was a recipient of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2007.”

The press release sent to Tadias also highlights the work of Director Radu Mihaileanu, who will showcase Live and Become, which celebrated its New York premier in February 2008. The film depicts an epic journey of an Ethiopian boy, Shlomo, who is airlifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to Israel in 1984 during Operation Moses. “Shlomo is plagued by two big secrets: he is neither a Jew nor an orphan. Q&A with survivors of similar journeys will follow the film,” the press release stated.

BINA adds that “the films depict different aspects of Ethiopia: contemporary urban life, Ethiopian Jewry, and communities, which have been influenced by Ethiopia.”

Next on the list for the NYC Ethiopian Millennium Celebration series is a photography exibition at the State Building in Harlem and a panel discussion at the Schomburg. Stay tuned for more coverage.

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Learn more about the 5th Annual Sheba Film Festival at www.binacf.org.