Festivals & Awards:
- DOC-Cévennes International Film Festival, France 2023
- Ethnografilm Festival, France 2023
- Religion Film Festival, Trento, Italy 2022
- Rendez-Vous Quebec Film Festival, Montréal, Canada 2022
- Toronto Black Film Festival, Canada 2023
- Quibdo Africa Film Festival, Colombia 2022
- Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Canada 2023
- Berlin Jewish Film Festival - Germany 2022
- JxJ Washington Jewish Film Festival, USA 2022
- Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival, Hong Kong 2022
- Gala Screening: Atlantic Jewish Film Festival, Halifax, Canada 2022
Director's statement:
In 2013 I first encountered the Abayudaya, inhabitants of an isolated community in eastern Uganda. The Jews of Putti were outliers within the Diaspora and had developed an extraordinary musical tradition all their own, integrating Hebrew prayers with African musical idioms. I would return to Putti four more times over the next seven years, observing and often participating in the daily life of the community, documenting their evolving relationship with Rabbi Riskin and his followers. The result is this film, ''Shalom Putti''.
Tamás Wormser
Movie Review:
* « With empathy and curiosity, the film sheds light on wealth inequality, Israel’s place in the Jewish community, and the legacy of European colonialism. »
SHALOM PUTTI / Les Rendez-Vous Quebec Cinema
* « Documentary film director Tamás Wormser, originally from Hungary and resident now in Canada for over 25 years, observed and filmed a small Jewish community in Uganda for seven years...
A particularly dedicated member gets in touch with Shlomo Riskin, a rabbi well connected both in Israel and worldwide, who arrives with a whole team of workers with the aim of "converting" the Jews of Putti according to strictly orthodox rules and laws. Without directly criticising the orthodox rabbi's approach, the film portrays a far-reaching confrontation that takes place to a backdrop of the tension between the power to define and religious practice. »
SHALOM PUTTI / JFBB.info
