Obsidian Dolls (AKA The Forbidden Wish)

"In 1991, Israel covertly airlifted approximately 15,000 Jewish Ethiopians from Ethiopia to Israel. The planes were packed tightly. One 747 had over 1,000 people on board. Two children were born during the flight. Ethiopia officially denied the presence of Jews in their country. They were forced to live in segregated, isolated villages lacking basic necessities like running water and electricity. Starving children went from dirt floors to well tended orphanages practically overnight. However, like America and many countries in the world, Israel grapples with its own issues of systemic racism. Israel elevated thousands of Ethiopian Jews from poverty to first world comfort, yet they also face a sense of loneliness and otherness even there. Not many films have covered this incredible tale of human spirit and struggle, and I felt that this was a story worth exploring. In “Obsidian Dolls”, I paired an Ethiopian born rabbi with a troubled young Jewish American man, who is dealing with his own baggage of white privilege and micro-aggressive racism. He is also beset with emotional and mental instability. Diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and plagued with hallucinations and unstable moods, this young man tried to commit suicide when he was just a boy. He's also struggling with opening up about his sexual identity, which is at odds with the rabbi's internalized homophobia. In a way, like the Ethiopian born rabbi, the young man also feels lost and without a home. This feeling of mutual sequestration is what ultimately bonds them together. The feeling of constant retreat and segregation is part of the Jewish experience. A perfect common thread interwoven into their genetic tapestry. It also personally speaks to my own experience of being physically disabled and Jewish. When writing and developing this story, I wanted to create a film that explores faith, but is not a “faith film”. The Jewish experience is at heart here, but I aimed for a universal experience, and approached religion with an even hand. Some events in the story could be open to interpretation, depending on the audience's own beliefs or lack thereof. I based this film on an award-winning one act play I wrote while studying for my M.F.A., thus I intended the film version to also feel like a theatrical stage play. Tired of constant "popcorn" movies, I wanted to distill drama down to its core elements. Just two principal actors in mostly one location, sparring over an objective. Magical realism and surrealism play a heavy part in this film, as I wanted the audience to feel like they're watching a cinematic stage play. It's also interesting to note that one of the characters in this story is afraid of getting others sick and wears a mask. Principal photography was completed six months before the COVID19 pandemic hit the news, and before the unfortunate events that led to explosive racial tensions in America and around the world. It's interesting that this story tapped into the zeitgeist of the time before it became mainstream. Coincidental, or perhaps prophetic..."