The Dryden will screen Fig Tree (Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian, Israel, Germany, France, Ethiopia 2018, 93 min., Amharic w/ subtitles) as part of the Rochester Jewish Film Festival.

Nominated for five Ophir Awards (the Israeli Oscar) including Best Film, Fig Tree transports us to the world of its young female writer-director, Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian, the world of black African Jews. Set in 1989, Fig Tree focuses on Mina, a Jewish teenager who lives with her family in Addis Ababa while the Ethiopian Civil War rages around them. They hope to escape its horrors by fleeing to Israel, but circumstances may not allow the escape. Inspired by events in her own life, Ethiopian-Israeli Davidian has crafted a suspenseful, poignant, but unsentimental coming-of-age story that pulls no punches.

[source: George Eastman Museum calendar, 2019-Jul-1]