DirectorRadu Mihaileanu Music directorArmand Amar Duration
LanguageAmharic / Hebrew / French Release date30 March 2005 WriterAlain-Michel Blanc (collaborator on screenplay), Radu Mihaileanu CastMoshe Abebe (Schlomo (teenager)), Moshe Agazai (Schlomo (child)), Sirak M. Sabahat (Schlomo (adult)), Roni Hadar (Sara), Yaël Abecassis (Yaël), Roschdy Zem (Yoram Harrari) Similar moviesRocky, Big Fish, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Before Sunset, Sleepless in Seattle, The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Live and become official film trailer american version
A Christian boy grows up among Jews in Israel and, as an adult, must confront his past.
Live and Become (French: ) is a 2005 French film about an Ethiopian Christian boy who disguises himself as an Ethiopian Jew to escape famine and emigrates to Israel. It was directed by Romanian-born Radu Mihaileanu. It won awards at the Cannes, Berlin and Vancouver film festivals among others.
In 1980 the black Falashas in Ethiopia are recognised as genuine Jews and are secretly carried to Israel. The day before the transport the son of a Jewish mother dies. In his place and with his name (Schlomo) she takes a Christian 9-year-old boy.
Plot
Shlomo, an Ethiopian boy, is placed by his Christian mother with an Ethiopian Jewish woman whose child has died. This woman, who will become his adoptive mother, is about to be airlifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to Israel during Operation Moses in 1984. His birth mother, who hopes for a better life for him, tells him “Go, live, and become,� as he leaves her to get on the bus. The film tells of his growing up in Israel and how he deals with the secrets he carries: not being Jewish and having left his birth mother.
Cast
Moshe Agazai as Child Shlomo
Moshe Abebe as Teenage Shlomo
Sirak M. Sabahat as Adult Shlomo
Yael Abecassis as Yael Harrari
Roschdy Zem as Yoram Harrari
Roni Hadar as Sarah
Rami Danon as Papy
Raymonde Abecassis as Hana
Mimi Abonesh Kebede as Suzy
Meskie Shibru-Sivan Hadar as Shlomos mother
Yitzhak Edgar as Qes Amhra
International
Best Screenplay, Cesar ("French Oscar") 2005
Audience Award, Berlin Film Festival 2005
European Cinema Award, Berlin Film Festival 2005
Ecumenical Award, Berlin Film Festival 2005
Audience Award, Vancouver International Film Festival 2005
Golden Swan (Best Film), Copenhagen International Film Festival 2005
Best Screenplay, Copenhagen International Film Festival 2005
Jury Prize (Best Film), Valenciennes Film Festival 2005
Audience Award (Best Film), Valenciennes Film Festival 2005
In the United States
Audience Awards unless otherwise noted
Boston Jewish Film Festival
Washington Jewish Film Festival
Miami Jewish Film Festival
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
Detroit Jewish Film Festival (Best Film)
San Diego Jewish Film Festival
Orange County Jewish Film Festival
Palm Desert Jewish Film Festival
Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival
Tampa Jewish Film Festival
Seattle Jewish Film Festival
Cleveland International Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival
Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival
Detroit Jewish Film Festival (Audience Award)
Washington DC International Film Festival (Runner-Up)
