ABOUT THE PROJECT
LOGLINE
The untold story of the covert and perilous operation that facilitated the mass migration of Middle Eastern Jews to Israel in the 1940s-1950s, revealed exclusively by a former Zionist leader.
SYNOPSIS
THE LAST EXODUS is a documentary of immense historical value that reveals an unknown but critical chapter of Jewish history in the Middle East before Israelís establishment in 1948.
Recently declassified documents detail a clandestine Zionist operation that safely smuggled hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern Jews into then-British Palestine (now Israel) in the 1940s and 1950s despite British and Arab restrictions. This chapter of Middle Eastern Jewish history has been overshadowed by the Nazi atrocities in Europe and unrecorded by historians until now.
THE LAST EXODUS team exclusively interviewed the only leader of this covert operation still living. Albert Guetta, an Egyptian-born Jew, was a leader in this operation that smuggled hundreds of thousands of Jews out of the Middle East starting in the early 1940s. He reveals a world of chilling details involving an intricate network of underground agents and the perilous cloak-and-dagger missions they performed to ensure the safe migration of Arab Jews into Israel. He reveals never-before-seen photos he took secretly while incarcerated in an Egyptian concentration camp where he was confined after Egyptian authorities raided his apartment the very night Israel was established. What happened after that is even more intriguing.
The documentary weaves smoothly between Mr. Guettaís exclusive interviews and rare archival videos, and invaluable academic and historical context provided by renowned Stanford University professor Joel Beinin.
Mr. Guetta recently died, meaning THE LAST EXODUS has the worldís only recorded firsthand narrative about this critical, but undocumented, story.
Director Alyn Darnay, who directed an award-winning film series on the Holocaust, and producer and co-director Kareem Awadalla, Fulbright fellow journalist and Middle East expert, take viewers on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to this vanished heritage.
THE LAST EXODUS is in final post-production phase. Don't miss the chance to be part of this thrilling, fascinating history.
PROJECT TYPE Documentary Feature
DIRECTOR Alyn Darnay, Kareem Awadalla
PRODUCER Kareem Awadalla
line producer Craig Cox
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