Ziyara

Inviting viewers on a cinematic pilgrimage to her homeland of Morocco, the filmmaker Simone Bitton explores her Jewish roots through the sphere of the Muslim guardians of the nation's Jewish memory, centered around the tradition of 'ziyara'. In the arid but beautiful landscape of rural Morocco, the country's youngest citizens have largely never themselves coexisted alongside Jews, although their presence is still felt in symbols, old shrines, synagogues and cemeteries. Many Muslims still maintain and find beauty in these commodities, seeing them as a timeless connection to the word of God.