Shmuel Beru

The Zrubavels are a family of Ethiopian immigrants living in an impoverished, crime and drug-infested neighbourhood. Nevertheless, the family patriarch still manages to provide his children with a good education and hold the family together around him – that is, until the outside world’s harsh reality starts to close in on them. At first, things kick off when a dispute emerges between the younger generation and their elders (aka, ‘the desert generation’) around the shape that the family’s identity is to take in Israel – a clash which soon turns into a full-blown rift that will only deepen with time.

​In 1973, the Jewish community of the village of Gonderchomriam in Ethiopia is preparing for a dangerous journey on foot through Sudan to the Land of Israel. Yitzhak (58), an independent farmer and owner of a successful homestead, refuses to leave his hard-earned land and crops, to disconnect from the soil where he grew up, and to set off on a journey into the unknown. His stance leads to a fierce conflict with his wife Sarah (45), who is determined to hit the road with their three children. However, the family's entanglement in a blood feud forces Yitzhak to send Sarah and the children on the journey to Sudan en route to Israel, and to recalculate his life's path.