Jewish Life

In the heart of Tel Aviv, there is an exceptional school where children from 48 different countries and diverse backgrounds come together to learn. Many of the students arrive at Bialik-Rogozin School fleeing poverty, political adversity and even genocide. Here, no child is a stranger.

Strangers No More—2011 Academy Award winner for Best Short Subject—follows several students struggling to acclimate to life in a new land while slowly opening up to share their stories of hardship. With tremendous effort and dedication, the school provides the support these children need to recover from their past. Together, the bond between teacher and student, and amongst the students themselves, enables them to create new lives in this exceptional community.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A about the film and HIAS’s work with asylum seekers and refugees in Israel. Among the panelists will be Joel Moss, HIAS’s Representative in Israel and an expert in asylum law who is embedded in the Israeli Ministry of the Interior’s new Refugee Status Determination Unit. Film preview.