A feature length documentary, scheduled for completion in 2007
Judaism and Race is a documentary that challenges the stereotype that all Jews are white by presenting personal stories of people struggling to reconcile multiple identities as Jews of color. We are led on the journey by Ethiopian-Israeli co-director Avishai Mekonen, who sets out to find and connect with other Jews of color throughout the United States and Israel seeking answers to the questions: What is the history of Jewish diversity? Who is a Jew, really? Who decides who is an "official" Jew? Do qualifications cross race lines? How do the multiple identities of Jews of color speak to issues of dual identities of all kinds? Ultimately, the stories of the people in Judaism and Race shatter many assumptions about the intersection of race and religion while they illuminate both universal and contemporary concerns of dual identity and the human need for visibility and connection.
The Jewish Identity Project:
New American Photography
The Contemporary Jewish Musuem
121 Steuart Street, San Francisco
(between Mission and Howard streets)
October 22, 2006 - April 29, 2007 This Fall The Contemporary Jewish Museum presents The Jewish Identity Project: New American Photography, featuring newly commissioned photography, video, and multimedia projects by thirteen emerging and mid-career artists.
The exhibition explores the hybrid and complex racial, national, and cultural identity of contemporary Americans through a Jewish lens. www.jmsf.org
Included in the exhibition is the trailer for the documentary-in-progress, Judaism and Race, directed by Avishai and Shari Mekonen, executive produced by the Institute for Jewish & Community Research, and featuring Be’chol Lashon community leaders Rabbi Capers Funnye, Rabbi Manny Viñas,and Professor Ephraim Isaac, among others.
