Commencing in 1984 this film explores in French, Yiddish and English the desperation resulting from civil war and famine and the turbulence of Israeli life. The story looks through the eyes of one of 8,000 Ethiopian children clandestinely air lifted from a Sudanese refugee camp to live in Israel. The nine-year-old Falasha boy Schlomo is forced by his mother to pretend to be Jewish to join the air lift. The title "live and become" epitomises her decision to save her child: she tells him he must abandon his faith, family and background and never divulge the secret, or he will die in the camp like the thousands of others around him. Schlomo is a withdrawn child with emotional scars however he has the good fortune to be adopted by a liberal foster family. He never forgets his mother and in trying to deal with the confusion and guilt of his situation he later tries to re-establish contact with her. The film covers ten years of his life and he learns ways to contend with his hidden identity and the balancing act that is the Palestine-Israeli situation. This film has received wide critical acclaim and won the audience award at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival, join us and see why. Alison Oakeshott