Join us for this lockdown-era film streaming on Zoom. We will be showing the film Shores of Light, in the presence of Israeli film director and writer Yael Katzir. After the film, you will be able to join our conversation with Yael Katzir and ask questions about the film.
Shores of Light tells a poignant, untold story of warmth and compassion. After WWII, thousands of Jewish survivors arrived in the Italian region of Puglia on their way to the land of Israel. To their surprise, they were welcomed by the poor local Italians. At this time of psychological and physical healing, hundreds of children were born. The film follows the story of three Israeli women who were born then, in Santa Maria di Leuca (1946). They decide to discover the footprints left by their parents. The film weaves rare historical footage with unique current testimonials capturing a ray of light after great darkness.
Katzir observes: ‘the sun, the sea, but mostly the Italian human warmth towards the survivors, captured my heart and imagination. It is an amazing story of rebirth. It shows the role and power of women, who were determined to fill the gap of their lost families and thus had the courage to give birth to their first children before they had a real home or even a formal ID. Bearing children in the DP camps was a constitutive event from personal, feminine, and Jewish perspectives. Against the fateful significance of motherhood during the Shoah, it was an expression of the female strength to survive and overcome the horrors of the exterminations. In the maternity hospital of the DP camp in Santa Maria di Leuca, hundreds of babies were born.’
Tickets are free but booking is essential. This event will take place at 6.00 pm GMT – if joining us from a different country, please check the timezone appropriate to where you are.
Running time of film: 56mins
This event is the third instalment of our series: ‘Transnational Jewish Identities at the Periphery’.