USA: Documentary recounts Jewish family's history in Libya before World War II in "The Last Jews in Libya."

Record ID: 432838

  • Title: USA: Documentary recounts Jewish family's history in Libya before World War II in "The Last Jews in Libya."
  • Date: 9th May 2007
  • Summary: (MER-1) NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIVIENNE ROUMANI-DENN DIRECTOR SAYING: "There is romance, marriage, children's birth, tragedies, pogroms, bombing, daily bombing. Mussolini taking over Libya, how the Italians left it. The Germans when they joined the Italians. The British, the occupation of the British. It was such a fascinating history that was interwoven between the personal, the individual and the global and the political."
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVA54MJKC6E7A0X1QFROXUAB48RZ
  • Story Text: In her directorial debut, Vivienne Roumani-Denn recounts her family's history in a documentary called "The Last Jews of Libya," which premieres at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
    Based on the memoirs left by her mother Elise Roumani, the film documents the final decades of a centuries-old Sephardic Jewish community through the lives of the Roumani family of Benghazi, Libya.
    The concept of the film began, says Roumani-Denn, when her oldest son Aryeh Bourkoff asked her to create something to show to his children one day documenting the Roumani family history. Even though she had never made a film before, Roumani-Denn said "yes."
    The film is narrated by actress and model Isabella Rossellini. "The Last Jews of Libya" weaves together a touching and harrowing tale of the Roumani family and a community torn apart by war.
    Roumani-Denn travelled around the world interviewing several generations of her family in English, Hebrew, Italian and Arabic to make the film.
    "There is romance, marriage, children's birth, tragedies, pogroms, bombing, daily bombing. Mussolini taking over Libya, how the Italians left it. The Germans when they joined the Italians. The British, the occupation of the British. It was such a fascinating history that was interwoven between the personal, the individual and the global and the political," Roumani-Denn said.
    "The Last Jews of Libya" traces the origins of the once thriving Jewish community which existed in Libya as far back as the 3rd Century B.C.
    "The film has many levels," Roumani-Denn says, "I think that people will find a connection at some level, it is an immigrant story, a family story, and it's a story of continuity," she added.
    At the end of World War II, only 36,000 Jews lived in Libya; today none remain.
    "It is interesting that is was my son who asked me to make this film so that his children will know the story and it was mother who left us the story to pass onto to the children," Roumani-Denn says.
    "The Last Jews of Libya" runs at 50 minutes and contains interviews with several generations of the Roumani family from all over the world.
    The film will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, May 2nd.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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