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The moviemaker who loves Zrubavel Street By Nirit Anderman Tags: israel news, ethiopian About two years ago, Shmuel Beru decided he was fed up. Fed up with the image of Ethiopian Jews among the Israeli public; fed up with the glass ceiling stopping Ethiopian actors like himself from fulfilling their potential in theater and cinema here, and fed up because the average Israeli's knowledge of Ethiopians is gleaned mainly from the police news in the newspapers. So he sat down at the desk in his small Tel Aviv apartment and began to write. Last week, at the closing ceremonies of the Haifa Film Festival, Beru was called to the stage. "Zrubavel," the first film he ever wrote or directed, had won the Sharon Amrani Television Drama Award. Beru's excitement was many times that of the other artists who had gone up on that same stage and received awards. For him, this was more than just a personal achievement, it was an achievement for an entire community. "Zrubavel" is essentially the first Israeli film created by a team of Ethiopian Israelis. The screenwriter and the director, the actors and the composer who wrote the film score - all of them are Israelis of Ethiopian origin, who enthusiastically devoted themselves to this project, practically on a volunteer basis. Beyond its purpose as a personal creative process and achievement for Beru, he wrote this film with a social goal in mind. "I love the place where I live, and the people who live here," said Beru in an interview held a few days ago at his home in Tel Aviv - on Zrubavel Street - "but they are also irritating and annoying, cynical and racist. My film's aim is to introduce these people to the place I came from. I wanted to bring the general public into my community, so people could get to know it. Since we do not know one another, we are constantly arguing and quarreling and hating one another, creating stereotypes about one another, putting up barriers." To break down those barriers, Beru decided to make sure the entire team realized the film had to be good. "I felt a responsibility toward the community from which I come. I didn't want to represent them as people who made a nice film, and that's all," continued Beru. "No! It was important for me that they [the characters] come out very strong, not apologetic. Not the kind who come along and say, 'Accept us, we are pitiful,' but rather the kind who come and make a film, a good film. I wanted it to be a cool, quiet movie, just like those people, who have patience for everything, plus a sense of humor, and not only sadness and pain. It really bothers me that Ethiopians have such a wretched image." Advertisement Family project Beru, 33, never studied filmmaking, never wrote a script and never made a movie. But he was not going to let such minor details get in his way. He wrote the script and with the help of some friend and volunteers, filmed a 10-minute pilot. Thanks to that pilot, and his impressive determination, Beru managed to win the backing of the Israel Film Fund and the Gesher Foundation, and even to attract the interest of one of the busiest and most experienced producers in Israel, Mark Rosenbaum. With a low production budget of just $150,000, the film soon became a project for the entire Beru family. The scenes that were filmed a year ago in Hadera, Beru's hometown, include his father, his brothers and a nephew, and his mother helped with production and even the on location cooking during the first two weeks of shooting. "Zrubavel" portrays a few incidents that occurred in the Zrubavel family, Israelis of Ethiopian origin. There is the father, a janitor who insists on sending his son to a prestigious school, despite the racist principal's refusal to accept the boy; and the father's dream that this son will be an Israeli Air Force pilot, even though another of his sons was killed during his army service in the Israel Defense Forces. There is the daughter who is romantically involved with a neighborhood youth, a distant relative, in violation of the community's rules; and another son who becomes religious. There is also the boy with the camera, who dreams of becoming another Spike Lee and films a documentary about the neighborhood's residents. "To me, the character of the father in the film is a summary of the story of the Ethiopian Jew," says Beru. "I feel [the family] is a representative example of an Ethiopian family that comes to a certain place, thinking it will be warmly received there, as part of the ingathering of the exiles, but that is not what happens, and there is a terrible disappointment. Despite this, the father tries to raise his children to love their country - his is as patriotic as they come - and when everything starts to fall apart, he is still optimistic. For me, that is the message of this film: Even when you are in the deepest pit, be strong, because life is stronger than anything, and the fact that society does not accept you is irrelevant." Beru was born in a village in Ethiopia, probably in the northern part of the country, but he is not sure. "I always say that my tragedy is that I don't know my own history," says Beru. "I know European history a lot better, because that's what we were taught here in school, and that is also part of the absorption process and the strong desire I had then, to belong to this place. Now I am trying to fill in those gaps. Now I am prouder and more curious, and want to learn those things." Beru's parents and eight siblings came to Israel in Operation Moses, in 1984. Their journey began with an exhausting two-month trek on foot from their village in Ethiopia to a refugee camp in Sudan, where they had to wait for about year, in harsh conditions, until they boarded a plane that brought them to Israel. When the family finally arrived here, Beru was 8 years old. At first the family settled in Safed, but moved to Hadera with he was 15. Beru completed his army service as an actor in the IDF Theater Company, then studied political science and theater at Haifa University. In 1996, he produced a one-man play called "Ha'ish Hamedaber Im Atzmo" ("The Man Who Talked to Himself"). He made a name for himself in the Ethiopian community with a standup comedy routine in Amharic that he performed with a friend, Yossi Vassa (who also acts in "Zrubavel"), but Beru found it difficult to make progress in the theater as a Hebrew-speaking actor. He appeared in several tiny roles in Habima plays ("If you blinked, you would miss me") and in the National Youth Theater, and took his one-man show to the TheaterNetto monodrama festival in 2005. Still, Beru wanted to prove that he could do much more. "It was important to me to show that those people, whom Israeli society knows as miserable people who are constantly getting a raw deal, are not so wretched," says Beru. "It was important to me to show that those people can also make films. People are constantly saying there are no Ethiopian actors, but that is not true. There are Ethiopian actors; they are simply not given a chance to express themselves. The problem is that [film] creators themselves do not take [Ethiopians] into consideration when they write things." The camera loves them "Zrubavel" is an interesting debut film, thanks partly to the subjects it addresses and the refreshing feeling it brings to the screen. Beru contends that Israeli artists who do not create roles for Ethiopian actors, and if they do, the roles are stereotypes. He says that "Zrubavel" sends a message to those artists, too. "I have only touched the top of the treasure trove of stories we could tell," he says. "There are stories that have not only social significance, but also artistic value." And, he says, that "these are people who film well, the camera loves them, so open your eyes and develop new horizons for yourselves." Beru was surprised that the local media were not interested in his film after he won the award in Haifa. "This is the first Ethiopian film made here, and I thought that one of the [television] channels would call me, say something, but none did. I also tried to promote it, and the foundation did, too, but nothing happened. I am astounded. I thought there would be some response, even for the curiosity of it. I'm sure that if there was a murder in an Ethiopian family, or racism at a school, the newspapers would go running there. I think it's very hypocritical." Beru says the outline of the next film he is planning is already sitting in a drawer. It is a story that has yet to be told, he says, about the journey of Ethiopian Jews on their way to Israel - the long treks on foot, the perils along the way and the strong faith that enabled them to survive the grueling journey. "I want to tell this story first-hand, with someone who experienced it, not from the perspective of someone from the outside analyzing what happened," says Beru. "I want to make something that people will see and say, 'Wow, I salute you. Now I feel that I know you better. I'm pleased to meet you, and that's it, I won't curse anymore, won't call you nigger. Truly, I mean it. From now on we will accept you to whatever school you want, and you won't have to come to a job interview and be told the position is already filled. It will be okay.' "And yes, I really believe this is possible. I believe that the media can make a difference." Bookmark to del.icio.us   4th quarter jitters Democrats have grown so used to losing, they feel any good news must have a catch. Designing an icon Ten years ago, two students asked Israeli Ruth Kedar to design their new company's logo.

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