Once Upon a Time at 55th and Hoover tells the story of the Sephardic Jews from the island of Rhodes

Once Upon a Time at 55th and Hoover tells the story of the Sephardic Jews from the island of Rhodes who arrived in Los Angeles in the first half of the 20th century and established a community in the area around 55th st and Hoover, what is today South Central Los Angeles.

The Sephardic Jews are the descendents of Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 after the Spanish Inquisition. These exiles settled mostly in what is today Turkey and the Balkans, including the island of Rhodes. Despite five centuries of forced separation from Spain the Sephardim maintained their Judeo-Spanish dialect, also known as Ladino, and their unique Hispano-Jewish culture.

In the first decades of the 20th century a considerable number of Sephardim from Rhodes moved to Los Angeles in search of a better life. They concentrated in the area south of Exposition Park where they established a synagogue and continued many aspects of the life they had left behind in the old country (traditions, celebrations, food, songs, and the Judeo-Spanish language).

When the Nazis took over the island of Rhodes towards the end of WWII and exterminated those Jews who had remained behind, the Los Angeles group became an important repository of the island’s unique Sephardic cultural heritage. However, as the immigrants prospered and moved to other areas and their US born children embraced American language and culture, the old traditions faded away. Eventually the community disbanded and the synagogue was sold to an African Methodist Episcopal congregation.

Through compelling interviews with two immigrants born in Rhodes –what will probably be the last recorded testimony from this generation– and one second generation Rhodesli who grew up in the area we learn how the Sephardim of Rhodes, as all immigrants of that era, were torn between assimilating into mainstream American culture and maintaining their identity. The film is also a valuable historical document: filled with seldom seen movie footage and previously unpublished archival photographs it brings to life a little known aspect of the history of Los Angeles.

Once Upon a Time at 55th and Hoover reveals the intimate connection between community, language and culture. «In many ways,» notes Andrés Enrique-Arias «Spanish-Ladino language is at the heart of a unique, rich Jewish culture.» Once this generation of Ladino speakers is gone many of the stories, legends and memories that have accompanied the Sephardim for centuries will be gone forever.

Director
Andrés Enrique-Arias (writer, director and producer). Andrés Enrique-Arias is a Professor of Spanish Historical Linguistics at the University of the Balearic Islands in Palma de Mallorca (Spain), and currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University. He completed an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Southern California. While attending graduate school he also took courses on music performance and screen writing for non fiction television. As a linguist he has investigated different aspects of Jewish culture in Medieval Spain and has collected and studied linguistic data from Judeo-Spanish speakers in Los Angeles. The documentary short Once upon a Time at 55th and Hoover is his first film.

Production Personnel
Miquel Llinàs Forteza (editor). Miquel Llinàs has worked in recording and television studios in Mallorca (Spain) and has participated as a producer, arranger and sound engineer in a wide array of musical productions, from small folk, pop, rock ensembles to film scores and to symphonyc recordings. Since 2008 he has worked in post-production and music in Mallorca based Nova Televisió in a number of TV series and talk shows.

Sarah Levy (photography in Los Angeles, USA). Sarah Levy is an award-winning Director of Photography and camera operator of narrative and documentary feature films and television. Sarah graduated from the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. Currently Sarah is working as a Director of Photography and the camera operator on her forth season of NBC’s «The Office».

Ricard Peitx (additional photography in Mallorca, Spain). Ricard Peitx studied media arts at the MK3 and ITES Schools in Barcelona with a specialization in audiovisual recording and post-production. He completed his education with courses on film editing in San Antonio de los Baños (Cuba). He has worked in the advertising industry and in television shooting and editing entire audiovisual projects, such as television shows, music videos and corporate videos. Currently he works in Mallorca as a camera operator and producer for the public local television station IB3.

Tolo Prats (composer). Tolo Prats is a sound specialist and musician with experience in a wide array of audiovisual genres: documentary and narrative feature films, theatre, television, video art and animation. He has worked as a composer, sound mixer, sound editor and sound designer for all major Spanish TV networks (TVE, Antena 3, Telecinco) as well as local channels, theater productions and private corporations. His music is a combination of different contemporary styles: experimental music, minimalism, serialism, ambience, industrial sound. He also incorporates influences from Mediterranean music and from the great film scores of all times.

If you would like to purchase a copy please write to 55thandhooverfilm@gmail.com and we will contact you with further information as soon as the DVD is ready

Fuente: 55thandhooverfilm.info