Labor, Rebellion, Upheaval

The creators of Ancestral Sin (TJFF 2018) continue their exploration of discriminatory policies through which Mizrahi immigrants were systemically sidelined by Israeli leadership. Through personal testimonials and recently unsealed transcripts, the filmmakers reveal how newcomers from North Africa were settled into peripheral “development” towns and their children were streamed into vocational schools to provide cheap labour for the state. Despite a concerted effort to keep these newcomers at the bottom of the social strata, the second generation of Mizrahim created a powerful grassroots movement to protest these policies. By aligning with Menachem Begin and the Likud party, they initiated sweeping political change. (Creators: David Deri, Ruth Yuval, Doron Galezer)