Foreign Sister

Poised for a full-blown mid-life crisis Naomi, just before the breaking point, meets Negist, an Ethiopian Christian illegal worker. Naomi seems to have everything; a loving husband, wonderful children and a comfortable home but she is caving in to the predictability of her life. When she hires Negist to help in her house, Naomi’s life changes. Parallels emerge between the world of the two women as they bond in friendship despite their differences of age, race, and class. Naomi is exposed to the world of illegal migrant workers and to the racial attitudes prevailing in Israel toward the hardships these workers encounter. The events of this award-winning film take place against the backdrop of Israeli society in which more than 300,000 foreign workers live. Since the 1980s some 80,000 Ethiopian Jews have arrived in Israel with great public fanfare. Few are aware that among these immigrants are a community of several thousand Ethiopian Christians. Director, Dan Wolman (HIDE AND SEEK, SFJFF 1982) is one of Israel’s leading filmmakers and in 1999 was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jerusalem’s International Film Festival. First Prize, The Wogin Award, Jerusalem Film Festival, 2000

Born in Jerusalem in 1941, Dan Wolman is one of Israel's leading directors of TV dramas, documentaries and feature films. His work has been screened in film festival around the world, and includes a number of prestigious co-productions. In 1999 Dan Wolman was awarded a Lifetime Acheivement Award at Jersusalem's International Film Festival. He spent the first years of his life in Ethiopia. Then, after finishing high school in Jerusalem, Dan studied cinema at the Film Institute of City College New York from 1962-1965, then completed his studies at New York University from 1965-1968. In 1968 Dan returned to Israel and shot his first feature THE DREAMER, which was an official entry at the Cannes Film Festival in 1970. Since then, Dan has written and directed over 20 short and feature-length films.