Sadia Shepard presents:
"The Girl From Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked
Ancestors,
Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home" and
"In Search of the
Bene Israel"
Lecture and Film Screening
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles
Co-sponsored by the JGSLA and the Skirball Cultural Center
Monday, April 20, 2009
7:30 PM
Book: "The Girl from Foreign"
In her elegantly crafted memoir, "The Girl From Foreign," Sadia Shepard sets out to fulfill her grandmother's dying wish that she learn about her heritage, setting her three voyages of discovery in motion: her grandmother's history; the story of the Bene Israel (one of the lost tribes of Israel that, having sailed from Israel two millennia ago, crashed on the Konkan coast in India) and her own self-discovery. Shepard will discuss spending her Fulbright year with an old hand-drawn map and her grandmother's family tree, unraveling the mysteries of Nana's past while visiting and photographing the grand and minuscule synagogues in Bombay and on the Konkan Coast.
Screening: "In Search of the Bene Israel"
In its Los Angeles premiere, the documentary "In Search
of the Bene Israel" follows a group of 3,500 Jews in and around Bombay
who are in the process of a community-wide migration to Israel. We meet
a Jewish Indian filmmaker working in Bollywood, a family who takes care
of a rural synagogue, and a young couple on the eve of their marriage
and departure for Israel. (35 minutes)
About the Author
Sadia Shepard is a writer and documentary filmmaker based in New York
City. She has produced documentaries that have been shown at film
festivals around the country including Sundance, IFP/West Los Angeles,
Full Frame, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and on the Sundance
Channel. Among these are the "Outsourcing" episode of Morgan Spurlock's
award-winning series "30 Days" and R.J. Cutler's forthcoming
film, "The September Issue." Shepard lectures frequently about
growing up in a home with a Muslim mother, Christian father, and Jewish
grandmother and on the history of India's Jewish communities.
Reviews: "The Girl from Foreign"
Part travelogue, part elegy to a beloved grandmother, and part love affair, "The Girl From Foreign" is a remarkable, moving and refreshingly honest account of a young woman's search for roots, for belief and a place to belong.
-Alice Greenway, author of "White Ghost Girls"
A beautifully written memoir about finding home, from an author who is multiply exiled. Told from the heart, "The Girl From Foreign" performs the unique feat of making the foreign feel familiar.
-Suketu Mehta, author of "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found"
A deeply moving journey across boundaries that most others find uncrossable, and into depths of human meaning that are rarely plumbed. An important and timely book.
-James Carroll, author of "Constantine's Sword:The Church and the Jews"
A book and DVD signing will take place after the program. Program is free to JGSLA members.
Reservations
This program requires advance reservations! JGSLA members can reserve two free tickets with a special membership code. Additional tickets are $10 each.
To Reserve Tickets:
- Go to the Skirball Program Details page.
- Find the phrase "General public and JGSLA members," and click the word "here."
- Enter the number of tickets desired.
- Click "Add to Cart."
- Enter Discount Code 99562
- Click: "Proceed to Checkout." The first two tickets are free, additional tickets will be $10.
- If you do not already have a Skirball Log-In, you must register. Click on “New User” to enter your name, email, etc. A log in and password will be generated which you can use to complete your ticket order.
- Follow instructions to purchase or confirm free tickets. These will be held at the door for you.
Remember! Free tickets and discount code are for JGSLA members only. Two tickets per member. Member names will be checked against the purchase list. Anyone who is not a JGSLA member, or who reserves more than two free tickets, will have their free reservation canceled. Any number of extra tickets can be purchased for $10.
If you have reserved tickets and then later need to cancel, please email Pamela Weisberger