The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive Collection

The Carpet

15 Minutes, 1953
Genre:
Short Film

  • Rate
Directed by: Arie Lahola
Production:Arie Lahola
Photographer: Yitzhak Herbst
Language: English
| Subtitles not available

This short film, directed and produced by Arieh (Leopold) Lahola for the Israeli Office of Information, stars Maran Elias, a young Kurdish girl whose family has made Aliyah to Israel. Maran proudly works at stitching a carpet and reminisces about her life and the experiences woven into her memory. After arriving with her father at an immigrant village near the Kinneret, she is married off to a young Kurdish man. Although the match was not made with her consent, she is excited to move in with her husband at a settlement called Even Sappir and enjoy her newfound status as a married woman; at their wedding, she moves her foot away and does not allow the groom to step on it as a symbol of male dominion over the household. While her husband spends his days performing agricultural work and guards the settlement at night, Maran busies herself with housework and is visited by a social worker who teaches her to use modern appliances. Shortly after her wedding, however, Maran’s husband is shot near the border during guard duty, and she is widowed. As a solitary woman with no husband, she is seen as worthless, but assisted by the social worker who brings her wool and material, Maran is able to financially support herself thanks to her craftsmanship and carpet stitching skills.

Subscribe to our mailing list and stay up to date
הירשמו לרשימת התפוצה שלנו והישארו מעודכנים

This will close in 0 seconds