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Screening of 'Legacy: I never left my village'

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Thu Aug 18, 2005 at 09:06:04 AM EST
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If you're going to be in New York August 23, check out the International Film Festival which will be showing "Legacy: I never left my village" as part of the film section "Jewish Experience in Latin America." From its website:

The 72-minute "Legacy" — produced by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation which tells the story of 820 Jews who escaped the pogroms of czarist Russia in 1889 and landed in Argentina aboard the steamship Wesser. Upon arriving in Argentina, these Russian immigrant Jews, who later became know by some as "Jewish Gauchos," settled in Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Buenos Aires, where they founded colonies with the aid of European Jewish philanthropist Baron Hirsch. Deep religious values, an intense cultural life and a strong focus on educating their children suffused the immigrants' daily struggle to tame the inhospitable brushwood.

Though it tells a serious story, the film is funny at times and the camera often comes to rest on the gauchos' wrinkled faces, lined with stories of courage.... In "Legacy," already shown at several international film festivals, Lerer tells the story in Yiddish of a woman who arrived in the colonies on the Wesser when she was just 10 years old. By film's end, the audience has been introduced to five generations of her descendants as they visit the colonies to mark Yom Kippur.

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    Screening of 'Legacy: I never left my village' | 2 comments (2 topical)
    Re: Screening of 'Legacy: I never left my village' (none / 0) (#1)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:31 PM EST
    Cool story, I'll be looking for the film. Ironcally if they were gouchos in the Gaza there would be less sympathy for those same immigrant Jews. Odd but true! I look forward to seeing the documentary and thank you TL for aiming me towards a cool documentary.

    Re: Screening of 'Legacy: I never left my village' (none / 0) (#2)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:31 PM EST
    Sounds great, JM, a real life fish out of water story. I've seen several other similar situations first hand as well - blue-eyed, blond-haired, old-word dressed, Mennonite communities in Mexico, and a town deep in the Andes in Venezuela of German decendants who look and dress like the St. Paulie Girl beer label. Fascinating stuff.

    Screening of 'Legacy: I never left my village' | 2 comments (2 topical)