Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival presents: Best of the Fest - Precious Life

Director: Shlomi Eldar
Israel, 2010

Hebrew and Arabic w/English subtitles
Documentary, 86 min.

2011 Academy Award Documentary Shortlist

After Raida Abu-Mustafa is told she may have to bury her newborn child next to her two daughters, who died from a genetic disease in Gaza, Dr. Raz Somech, a young Israeli pediatrician at Tel Hashomer Medical Center, joins the fight to save the baby’s life. He turns to the film director and Arab affairs correspondent, Shlomi Eldar, and asks him to broadcast a story about the “bubble boy” with no immune system, and the harsh dilemma he faces: he could save the child with a bone marrow transplant, but is unable to raise funds for a baby from the Gaza Strip while Qassam rockets are being fired into Israel.  Following a broadcast on the news, a bereaved Jewish father donates $55,000 and shakes the mother’s perception that “the enemy” is using her story as propaganda. Slowly, an extraordinary relationship is forged between mother, doctor, and film director, who vow to find a genetically suitable donor in the Gaza Strip. The complex reality and the echoes of war fracture the bubble and force the mother to choose between her child and her reputation in her community. This is a story of an improbable friendship in an impossible reality. 

$10 General; $8 JCC Premium/Community Members; $8 Students

Tickets can be purchased online at: http://www.sabesjcc.org/arts_film_festival.htm, or by calling the box office at 952.381.3499, or by emailing tickets@sabesjcc.org.