In Israel today, the pop singer,
Rita, has become a singing sensation. Born in Iran in 1962, she came to Israel
at the age of 8 with her family. Rita
was married to the popular composer and singer, Rami Kleinstein and they have
two daughters - Meshi and Noam.
Documentary filmmaker Ayal
Goldberg follows Rita in his film, Rita Jahan Foruz, over the course of a
year. We accompany her as she travels to
Istanbul for a concert; we watch as she talks about growing up in Iran, how as
a child she had to hide the fact that she was Jewish; we feel for her as she talks about her
divorce and her obsessive need to be withdrawn from others.
Rita is however very connected to
her family -- we see her singing and fooling around with her daughters, cooking
for her extended tight-knit family, her relationship with her aging father and talking
about the pain that he has suffered in his lifetime. She is close to her
mother, also a great singer, an elegant woman. Together they travel to Los
Angeles to visit her uncle, her mother's brother, and in a touching scene, she
sings in Farsi with her uncle and talks about memories of her childhood.
She has become an international
phenomenon and a cultural ambassador. An internet headline states: Rita's music succeeds
where diplomacy can't!
As a result of her latest album, My Joys,
recorded in both Hebrew and Farsi (which is her native tongue), she has surprisingly
become a hit in Iran! In a great scene,
she skypes with a fan who explains that her album is obviously not available in
shops in Iran but that bootleg copies are available!
In March 2013, Rita was invited
to sing at the United Nations. The U.N.
delegate who introduces her refers to the magic of music to transcend cultures
and build bridges and connect people. In
the hall of the General Assembly, she sings and quotes classical Persian poetry
and tells the audience in Farsi: When you ignore the pain of others, you are
not worthy of being called a man.
Rita Jahan Foruz is a documentary
of 91 minutes, available from Go2Films.
A shorter version will also be available soon!
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