Dimona Twist

The distinct voices of women immigrants, rarely heard, are the subject of this fully compelling film. Vivid historical footage is intertwined with first-person reflections of seven women who immigrated to Israel in the 1950s and 60s. The narrators share memories of their home countries in North Africa and Eastern Europe-Jewish life, culture, and community and the shock of uprooting to relocate to the almost non-existent desert town of Dimona. In this small community of recent immigrants, the women find scarcity, isolation, and a painful hierarchy among Asheknazim and Sephardim. Stories of adolescence, marriage, children and work parallel the development of Dimona. Each woman intimately and honestly illuminates the remarkable imagination and resilience demanded in the process of place-making in Israel.

“The lives and thoughts of strong, wise, and funny women” -The Jewish Pluralist