Sallah Shabati

Sallah Shabati A Film by Ephraim Kishon (Israel, 1964, 110 Minutes, Black & white, Hebrew, English subtitles, Cast: Chaim Topol, Geula Nuni, Gila Almagor, Zaharira Harifai, Shaike Levi, Ya'ackov Banai, Arik Einstein)

This sharp, often hilarious, satire that became the most successful film in Israeli history, is about new immigrants Sallah and his family, who are left in a shack near their promised apartment and are abandoned for months. A Yemenite Jewish family that was flown to Israel during “Operation Magic Carpet”—a clandestine operation that flew 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel the year after the state was formed—is forced to move to a government settlement camp. The patriarch of the family, portrayed by Chaim Topol, tries to make money and get better housing, in a country that can barely provide for its own and is in the midst absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. This hilarious portrayal of immigrants in Israel won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, putting Israel on the international film stage for the first time.

AWARDS, FESTIVALS & SCREENINGS
* NY Sephardi JFF 2017
• Academy Award Nominee Best Foreign Film
• San Francisco Film Festival - Two Golden Gate Awards
• Hollywood Press Association - Two Golden Globe Awards
• Mexico Jewish Film Festival
• Sao Paulo Jewish Film Festival
• Chicago Israeli Film Festival
• Zagreb Jewish Film Festival
• Washington JFF 2015
• JCC The 14th Street Y 2019                                                                                                                               •University of Pennsylvania Libraries 2021

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