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My Fantasia

"A moving and sharp video diary that moves in several layers and comes to an end in a climactic duel between the director, armed with his microphone, and the father, armed with his silence."
Maariv
"Dror uses his highly original documentary style to reveal the painful story of his family's immigration to Israel and the racism of the Ashkenazi society they found there."
Hadasa Magazine
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    The three Darwish brothers, who immigrated from Iraq to Israel in the 50’s, established the family factory “Fantasia” - a menorah factory. For a time period of 50 years they designed, manufactured and shipped Chanukah menorahs for the entire world and now…the family factory is about to close down. From this point in time, the director, who is the son of the youngest brother, is starting to embark on a journey that unravels the history of his family, going back 100 years. The story weaves memories from Iraq and Israel - two homelands, two languages, two identities, two enemies. The director is trying to reconstruct the narrative of his family, a narrative that has disappeared in the silence and shame that followed the family move to Israel. The father’s silence is finally broken by the director’s relentless inquiries, which reveal a story about 5 lost years of his father in the Iraqi prison. It is a diary film shot over a period of 10 years.

Documentary   |   Israel   |   2001   

54 min

Hebrew, Arabic   

Subtitles: Hebrew, English

Having been influenced by my encounter with American filmmakers in Paris, I was sucked into a first-person documentary and I started making a movie about my dad and his two brothers, My Fantasia. The 3 elderly brothers had a menorah factory, which was about to shut down. Working on this film, made me give up my life in America and return to Israel. I grew more conscious of my Mizrachi identity and I wanted to connect to it and show something about it that hadn't been said before. So, I addressed it through the story of my family, of the three brothers and the drama of their Menorah factory closing down, and the relationship between two generations, mine and my dad’s.

Director: Duki Dror   

Producer: Duki Dror, Zygote Films Ltd.   

Script: Duki Dror   

Cinematography: Philippe Bellaiche & Duki Dror   

Editor: Sara Salomon  

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