The cinema of two very different cultures will be the focus of programs at the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv cinematheques next week: the Bavaria region of Germany and Mexico.
However, as soon as Ariela leaves the
mikveh, she quickly changes clothes in her car. She exchanges her formal dress for jeans, T-shirt and sneakers. This outfit signals that this is the real Ariela, a 25-year-old artist who paints impressive murals on the facades of local buildings. Her work takes her out of the upper-class neighborhoods of Mexico City where her Syrian Jewish family lives and into the more bohemian sections of the city.
Working downtown is a respite for Ariela, who often feels stifled by her community’s expectations. Syrian Jewish girls are expected to marry young and to marry Syrian Jewish men. Furthermore, the community divides along sectarian lines of those who immigrated to Mexico from Damascus or Aleppo. Arriving in the early part of the 20th century to escape persecution and civil war, the Syrian Jewish community prospered in Mexico as they single-mindedly maintained their traditions and a tight-knit society. Most Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to Mexico after
Indie film Leona opens at Scottsdale cinema | Arts & Features jewishaz.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jewishaz.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Leona | San Diego Reader sandiegoreader.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sandiegoreader.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.