Looking for Yadida

With the establishment of the State of Israel, hundreds of Mizrahi and Balkan infants disappeared from immigrant camps. More than half were of Yemeni origin. Over the years, following public outcry, three commissions of inquiry were established, yet the fate of most of the children, including Yadida Jovany, remains unknown. The story of Aunt Yadida is a story of claustrophobia, of a dark, dusty storeroom that remained locked for years. Her living-dead presence hovered in the air of the family home.

The opening of the archives in 2016 and the release of over 200,000 documents offered a first opportunity for intimate acquaintance with her past. What color were the crib bars she lay in at the infant home? Did she hear the soft sounds of a lullaby from a kind nurse's lips, or did fluorescent silence fill her room?

This archival film opens a window through three circles: the public, the institutional, and the familial. It moves from denial to recognition, from silence to speech, from chaos to paternalism. The contrast between the terse documents and the harrowing testimonies, suppressed for years, casts new light on the failures of the health and welfare systems. Will revisiting this affair enable healing, or only deepen the wound?