Ziyara

In Ziyara (which means pilgrimage to sacred places), celebrated French-Jewish documentary filmmaker Simone Bitton returns to her homeland Morocco, where a thriving community of 300,000 Jews once lived. She drives across the country, documenting its arresting beauty and visiting many of the Jewish heritage sites, including cemeteries, shrines, synagogues and schools. While lamenting over what could have been if Jews had not left the country in droves during the 1960s, Bitton’s conversations with the local people who maintain those sites today give her – and us – a reason to be hopeful abo...