Inquisition is a re-examination of history and identity in a 2-hour documentary film, immersive website, and educational outreach project that unearths 500 years of hidden history. The film looks at what happened to the families forced to convert to Catholicism or flee during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions through the eyes of their contemporary descendants, many of whom are just discovering their often-nuanced Jewish roots. Our storytellers uncover the connections between their family’s journeys, and this buried history. The discoveries of these flights to safety over the past 500 years give a new perspective to the world events we face today.
Children of the Inquisition is more than just a film. It’s an opportunity to better understand our complex world and identities.
Our Project
Filming to date:
Our character driven film allows our audience to join individual storytellers as they learn about their families’ often tortuous journeys from the 14th century to the present.
We follow NY Times journalist Doreen Carvajal, historian Devin Naar, Artist Carlos DeMedeiros, student Ise Sharp, neuroscientist Leonel Antonio Chevez, as they trace their families’ journeys and changes of identity from Spain and Portugal across the globe to the New World and beyond.
Website:
Our immersive website provides multiple viewpoints on the nuanced history of Sephardic Jews. It features clips from our location shoots from around the world. We continue to add resources to our online archive, which provides further content on Sephardic history and its diaspora (Please feel free to offer suggestions). We also provide an opportunity for visitors to describe their own experiences of self discovery.
However, we are preparing to undergo a major design update for the website, which will create a more interactive and intuitive experience for visitors.
If given the code for viewing the ‘work in progress’, click here to sign into our protected preview page.
Be sure to follow us on facebook and sign up for our email newsletter for updates!
Educational Outreach:
The outreach campaign includes discussion panels, public and invitation only screenings, and receptions events which are held in various community organizations, academic institutions and houses of worship.
To date, we have presented clips from the project and held discussions at Shearith Israel, Temple Emanu-EL, and Rodeph Sholom in New York City; the 2015 Knesset Causus Conference in Israel; B’nai Zion in El Paso; and the 2014 and 2015 Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies in Dallas, and in Miami, respectively.
We are looking for partners and collaborators to bring the issues this project raises into local communities around the world. Contact us.
