Carole Zabar Center for Film

Mish Mish + The Tattooed Torah and Q+As

Expired December 15, 2021 4:45 AM
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This film is part of the Hanukkah Film Festival, presented in partnership with Menemsha Films and Chai Flicks.


Buy a pass for the whole festival here.

In a basement near Paris a treasure-trove of Egyptian animated films has been found. The films show the work of the Arab world’s pioneers in this genre, the Frenkel brothers: three exceptional young film-makers, creators of Mish-Mish Effendi, the Mickey Mouse of the entire region, which disappeared from Egyptian screens when the State of Israel was created.


Through their animated images, we uncover the history of the Frenkel family, marked by exile, a trauma being repeated today. “Bukra fil Mish-Mish” is a common Arabic expression referring to something which will never happen: “if pigs could fly”. At the same time the extraordinary discovery of these films reveals a forgotten era gone forever, an Arab-Jewish golden age when the two communities could create things together. Not only has it disappeared, it has been erased from the pages of history. 

  • Year
    2019
  • Runtime
    74 minutes
  • Language
    English, Hebrew, French
  • Country
    Israel, France
  • Director
    Tal Michael