http://www.rafikiproductions.com/films/#bt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dwy7o7dbDg
Uploaded on Oct 17, 2011
This is a 5.25 clip of me talking about my film, why I want to make it, what it's about,and some of the important questions it raises. How is the Internet effecting issues of nationhood, citizenship and personal identity? Are they breaking down under the pressure of global allegiances not related to geography? Are people more or less concerned about their own identity in this age of digital manipulation and regrouping?
Uploaded on Oct 15, 2011
ReplyDeleteI'm Jewish, but over the years, many layers have been added to that core identity. I was not raised Jewish, know nothing about being Jewish, and don't feel Jewish but my parents' lives would not have been the same if they weren't Jewish...and nor would mine. I should have been born in Romania. I could have been born in Brazil, which was my parents' first choice after their escape. But I wasn't. Instead, I was born in Kenya and think of myself as an Eastern European British White African who now lives in America.
Ever since childhood, I have found the issue of personal identity to be totally fascinating. The Equator runs right through Kenya and you can straddle it with one foot in each hemisphere. That used to drive me absolutely crazy. I would dash back and forth across the line, wondering In which hemisphere I belonged, and whether that line made a bit of difference to anyone.
So now I am making a documentary film that explores issues of identity, based on my parents' amazing lives in Europe and Africa. Not just Jewish identity, but personal identity in general. How do w e construct it? What if you are forced to leave your home, your village, town or country?
Documents falling through leaves, blurred
These are our family documents, going back over 100 years to my grandparents and parents, documenting their lives as Jews, as socialists, their fake passports and Catholic ID's, their volatile citizenship, their naturalization, their pledges of allegiance to foreign countries.
Turkish, Hebrew, French, Latin, Romanian, English -- these papers have told my parents who to be, what to believe, where to live and how to live and have sometimes meant the difference between life or death.
They are the leaves of my parents' lives, falling now in the autumn of my own. I am as much their prisoner as my parents were. And it doesn't end. My daughter, the lovely Sophie, was born stateless in Hamburg, Germany. Why was she born stateless? Well -- you'll have to see my film to find the answer to that question.
A friend of mine said my film should be called WHO JEW YOU THINK YOU ARE? I said the title should just be "Chopped Liver." But I remembered that my mother's maiden name was SCHONBAUM, which means "beautiful tree" in German. Just as her parents' roots were severed during World War I, and hers during World War II, so I feel that my roots have been severed for different reasons or never existed in the first place.
My question is: does it matter? Do we need traditional roots these days, when we can friend anyone anywhere in the world and pledge global allegiance without any citizenship at all? Is that the future? Are we becoming fragmented in our souls or unified in our spirit?
I address these issues in my film BEAUTIFUL TREE, SEVERED ROOTS. It's 70 minutes long and I have 32 minutes edited. This winter, I plan to complete shooting in Kenya and Poland and I need $40,000 to cover my travel costs and all post-production.
Gail Pellett, a friend and award-winning producer and director for PBS and Chanel 13, said that my clips so far are "Truly intriguing, exciting and relevant to our brave new world of global re-arrangements and hyper digital times." I hope that you agree with her.
You can watch the opening sequence of my film right here. Help to fund my film and you get some really great prizes, which you can see listed on this page.