Live and Become

Live and Become

Theatrical poster
Directed by Radu Mihaileanu
Produced by Denis Carot
Marie Masmonteil
Radu Mihaileanu
Marek Rozenbaum
Itai Tamir
Written by Alain-Michel Blanc
Radu Mihaileanu
Starring Moshe Agazai
Moshe Abebe
Sirak M. Sabahat
Yael Abecassis
Roschdy Zem
Roni Hadar
Rami Danon
Raymonde Abecassis
Mimi Abonesh Kebede
Meskie Shibru-Sivan Hadar
Music by Armand Amar
Edited by Ludo Troch
Distributed by Menemsha Films
Release dates
 30 March 2005
Running time
 140 minutes
Country France
Language Amharic / Hebrew / French

Live and Become (French: Va, Vis et Deviens) 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 Mihăileanu. It won awards at the Cannes, Berlin and Vancouver film festivals among others.

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

Awards

International

In the United States

Audience Awards unless otherwise noted

External links