Sunday, March 12, 1:00 PM

West Coast Premiere

Israel , 1999, 60 min.

Hebrew and Ahmaric w/subtitles

Daniel Wachsmann, Director

Menelik: Black Jewish Prince

Gadi Abaja is a young Ethiopian living on the margins of Israeli society in Tel-Aviv’s central bus station. He survives by theft, but he dreams of turning the station’s public-address system into a late-night Amharic radio show with a reggae beat – a cultural symbol of minority protest. As the son of a Jewish father and a Christian mother, Gadi is like Menelik, the legendary son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Feeling misunderstood by Israelis, he misses his mother in Ethiopia very much and awaits a reply to his many letters -  which never come.  The film follows Gadi’s journey back to his birthplace in search of his past, but a much-anticipated, emotional homecoming in Ethiopia reveals more about Gadi’s present: his adopted Israeli identity.

Cosponsored by the Secular Jewish Circle of Puget Sound

Shown with The Color of Jewish

For a list of related readings available at Tree of Life Books and Judaica and through the American Jewish Committee, please visit our SJFF 2000 Reading List.