''Live and Become'' (french: Va, vis et deviens) is a 2005 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

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 Mihăileanu Radu Mihăileanu (born 23 April 1958) is a Romanian-born French film director and screenwriter. He left Romania in 1980 and graduated the IDHEC cinematographic institute in Paris. In addition to his work in the cinema he published a book of poe ...

. It won awards at the Berlin and Vancouver film festivals among others.

Plot

Schlomo, 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 Operation Moses ( he, מִבְצָע מֹשֶׁה, ''Mivtza Moshe'') was the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews (known as the "Beta Israel" community or "Falashas") from Sudan during a civil war that caused a famine in 1984. Originally called '' ...

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 Schlomo *Moshe Abebe as Teenage Schlomo * Sirak M. Sabahat as Adult Schlomo * Yael Abecassis as Yael Harrari * Roschdy Zem as Yoram Harrari *Roni Hadar as Sarah *Rami Danon as Papy *Raymonde Abecassis as Suzy *Mimi Abonesh Kebede as Hana *Meskie Shibru-Sivan Hadar as Schlomo's mother *Yitzhak Edgar as Qes Amhra *Aaron Vodovoz as Kibbutz Boy

Accolades

International

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 The San Diego Jewish Film Festival (SDJFF) is an annual eleven-day-long film festival held in San Diego, California. Established in 1990, the festival is managed by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community ...

* 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 The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest film festival in Ohio. It was first held in 1977, showing eight films over a period of eight weeks at the Cedar Lee Theatre. ...

Nashville Film Festival The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm), held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2016, Nashville Film Festival received more than 6,700 submissions from ...

* Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival * Detroit Jewish Film Festival (Audience Award) * Washington DC International Film Festival (Runner-Up) * Aspen Filmfest

References

External links

Live and Become
on IA (French)
Official Site
* *

{{Radu Mihăileanu 2005 films Amharic-language films 2000s French-language films 2000s Hebrew-language films French drama films Israeli drama films 2005 drama films Films about adoption Films about immigration Films about Jews and Judaism Films directed by Radu Mihăileanu Beta Israel Films set in Israel Films set in Sudan 2005 multilingual films French multilingual films Israeli multilingual films 2000s French films