The Last Jews of Libya

The Last Jews of Libya documents the final decades of a centuries-old Sephardic Jewish community through the lives of the remarkable Roumani family. Thirty-six thousand Jews lived in Libya at the end of World War II, but not a single one remains today. A tale of war, cultural dislocation, and one family’s ultimate perseverance, this fifty-minute film traces the story of the Roumanis of Benghazi, Libya from Turkish Ottoman rule through the age of Mussolini and Hitler to the final destruction and dispersal of Libya’s Jews in the face of Arab nationalism.

Based on the recently discovered memoirs of the family’s matriarch, Elise Roumani, as well as interviews in English, Hebrew, Italian, and Arabic with several generations of the Roumani family and a trove of rare archival film and photographs, it is an unforgettable tale.

The Last Jews of Libya is the story of an ancient community transformed by modern European culture, buffeted by Fascism and Arab nationalism, and ultimately saved through the strength of its Jewish tradition and faith.

Trailer

CREDITS

Narrator: Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, grew up in Paris and Rome, and her international career has ranged from being a translator and reporter for RAI Italian Television to becoming the world famous exclusive model for Lancôme to extensive film work under the direction of notables such as David Lynch, Peter Weir, John Schlesinger, Guy Maddin, and Peter Greenaway. Isabella is the author of the best selling books Some of Me and Looking at Me and recently published In the Name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini. She also wrote and narrated the film My Dad is 100 Years Old.

Director: Vivienne Roumani-Denn was 12 years old when her family emigrated to Boston from Benghazi, Libya, where they had lived for centuries. Graduate degrees in librarianship and management landed Vivienne positions heading departments at the Johns Hopkins Library and the Library of Congress and directing science and maps libraries at the University of California, Berkeley. She subsequently became the Judaica/Hebraica Librarian at Berkeley to pursue her avocation of research on Sephardic Jewry, conducting extensive oral histories of Jews from Libya. She moved to New York City in 1999 and served as the Executive Director of the American Sephardi Federation, founding the Sephardic Library and Archives. Vivienne conducts interviews in the major languages of the Sephardic world: Arabic, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian. She has published and lectured widely on information technology, including electronic access, distribution and pricing, and, for the past decade, on Sephardic Jewry. This is her first film.

Editor: Amanda Zinoman has edited and produced numerous films, television specials, and segments of regular television series, including The Lost Children of Rockdale County (Peabody Award, 2000) and Trauma, Life in the ER (Prime Time Emmy Nomination 1998, Non-Fiction Picture Editing). Amanda was the editor and co-writer of Thunder in Guyana, which was shown on the PBS series Independent Lens in 2005. She was a Staff Editor for three years for the Emmy-nominated PBS series Now with Bill Moyers and recently edited Conversations with Warren Buffet, a Charlie Rose special on PBS and was supervising editor for Behind the Badge, a four-part series on Spike TV. She has worked as a film editor for WNET, PBS, Frontline, WGBH, ABC, MSNBC, and HBO.

Executive Producer: Aryeh B. Bourkoff is Vice Chairman of Technology, Media and Telecoms Investment Banking at UBS. He was previously a managing director and head of the global media & communications group of UBS Investment Research, specializing in coverage of the Cable & Satellite and Entertainment sectors. This is his first film.

Official website: http://www.lastjewsoflibya.com

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