• Title:
• The Last Jews of Libya

• Director:
• Vivienne Roumani-Denn

• English, Hebrew, Arabic and Italian with English subtitles

• Libya, 50 minutes

• Venue:
• Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater

• Purchase Tickets:
• Show 1   Show 2  

“Make your life where you are,” Elise Roumani told her children. They tentatively watched the Italian fascist regime arrive in Libya, survived the Nazi invasion, welcomed the British, and lived at uneasy peace with the Arabs until coming to the United States. After World War II, there were 36,000 Sephardic Jews living in Libya. Today there are none.  The Roumani family is among the dwindling remnants of this Jewish population clinging tightly to their identity as both Jews and Libyans—though never quite able to reconcile the two halves. Even upon arrival in the United States, the family finds themselves alone in their Sephardic traditions, surrounded by Jews of Ashkenazi descent. Narrated by Isabella Rossellini, Roumani-Denn’s documentary interweaves the recently discovered memoirs of the family’s matriarch Elise Roumani, along with family photos, and interviews given by Elise and Youssef’s children, as she explores the ultimate question of diasporic existence: how do you make a life when your home is not your home?

• Purchase Tickets:
• Show 1   Show 2  

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