World Premiere! Directors Avishai Mekonen and Shari Rothfarb Mekonen in person at both screenings! Film subjects Rabbi Manny Viñas and Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, and Lacey Schwartz, Outreach Director for Be'chol Lashon, Executive Producers of 400 MILES TO FREEDOM in person at 1/18 screening!

In 1984, the Beta Israel—a secluded 2,500-year-old community of observant Jews in the northern Ethiopian mountains—began a secret and dangerous journey of escape. Co-director Avishai Mekonen, then 10 years old, was among them. In this film, he breaks his 20-year silence about the kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his community’s exodus. This life-defining event launches an inquiry into identity, leading him to African, Asian and Latino Jews in Israel and the U.S.

PRECEDED BY:

Panta Rhei | Amos Holzman
Israel | 2010 | 20m | Hebrew with English subtitles

A young Israeli has a meltdown during his army exam. A typical teenager, he is an attractive smart aleck with attitude. US Premiere!