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It has been estimated that there are nearly 100,000 Filipinos currently working in Israel, around 30,000 of whom are doing so without proper documentation. In 2009, the government instituted tough changes in the citizenship status of foreign workers. Any child under the age of five now faces deportation. From this situation, director Hannah Espia and screenwriter Giancarlo Abrahan have crafted a troubling and deeply moving story of Filipino workers in Tel Aviv who scrape by at odd jobs, constantly on the lookout for police and immigration officers. Janet (Irma Adlawan) is a weary single mother dreading a knock at the door that might bring questions about her half-Israeli daughter Yael (Jasmine Curtis) and her brother’s four-year-old son, Joshua. When Janet’s close friend Tina (Mercedes Cabral) gets pregnant complicating the already cramped situation, her brother Moises (Ping Medina) must take young Joshua into hiding. Espia’s multilayered depiction of life on the run captures the edgy plight of thousands of Filipinos, many of whom have known only Israel as home and whose children can speak only Hebrew. The film’s poignant finale, a wide-eyed Joshua chanting the Torah while surrounded by police, gives an eloquent voice to millions of displaced individuals who wonder where exactly they should call home.
-Thomas Logoreci Sponsored by Robert and Judy Aptekar