Shores of Light

Synopsis

This is the poignant untold story of warmth and compassion after a terrible war. Thousands of Jewish survivors landed in Southern Italy after WWII, on their way to Israel. Amazed by the welcome they received from the local population, they found joy and healing while they awaited the ships that would run the British blockade. Hundreds of children were born during the wait. This documentary follows the story of three Israeli women born at that time as they discover the place and culture where their parents began to believe in life again. Weaving rare historical footage with unique testimonies, the film captures rays of light after great darkness.

Director’s Statement

Many films have been made about the Holocaust, this unimaginable chapter of history is still full of surprises. The film focuses on the immediate post war period: 1945-7. Unveiling the story of the
Displaced persons camps, at the tip of the heel of the Italian boot. This was a transitory phase for them, a time out or rather a recuperation period to normal life on their way to the Israel. The sun, the sea, but mostly the Italian human warmth towards the survivors, captured my heart and imagination. It is an amazing story of rebirth. It shows the role and power of women, who were determined to fill the gap of their lost families and thus had the courage to give birth to their first children before they had a real home or even a formal ID. Bearing children in the DP camps was a constitutive event from personal, feminine, and Jewish perspectives. Against the fateful significance of motherhood during the Shoah, it was an expression of the female strength to survive and overcome the horrors of the exterminations. In the maternity hospital of the DP camp in Santa Maria di Leuca, hundreds of babies were born. (50 were traced down in Israel today).