The South: Alice Never Lived Here

This is a beautifully shot and moving story about coming home. Filmmaker Sini Bar-David returns to her childhood neighborhood of housing projects in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, a world she did everything in her power to escape. She begins by visiting her 89-year-old grandmother Ida, whose adventurous life took her from a Ladino-speaking Greek community to Bulgaria, where she escaped the Nazis. When Ida immigrated to Jaffa, it was still an Arab city. In search of her youth, Bar-David meets Elinor, a smart, ambitious and charming 15-year-old, not unlike the filmmaker at that age. Elinor is bused to school in a middle-income Ashkenazi neighborhood, where Sephardic students face constant discrimination and taunts from teachers as well as students. She wants nothing better than to break the boundaries of her class, but feels conflicted about leaving a loving and protected environment. Through the prism of her own experience, Elinor's hopes, and Ida's reflections on a long, eventful life, the filmmaker unravels a powerful tale linking three generations of strong Sephardic women. THE SOUTH is the latest film from the producers who brought us THROUGH THE VEIL OF EXILE, an audience favorite of the 1993 SFJFF.