Film screening of 'Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem' followed by Q&A
02 Jun 2016
On Thursday, 30 June 2016 (8.10pm) at HOME, Manchester
Co-sponsored by The University of Manchester and the Centre for Jewish Studies, the screening of 'Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem' (2014, France/Germany/Israel, dirs.: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz, 116 mins) is followed by a Q&A panel with Professor Bernard Jackson and Dr Nechama Hadari.
An Israeli woman (the late Ronit Elkabetz) fights for three years to obtain a divorce from her devout husband (Simon Abkarian), who refuses to grant his permission to dissolve the marriage. Designed to throw a light on the ancient religious legal system which controls divorce proceedings in Israel, this spellbinding drama highlights how women today are still at the mercy of both their husbands and the religious courts.
Bernard Jackson was Alliance Professor of Modern Jewish Studies and Co-Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester from 1997-2009. From 2004 he directed the Centre's Agunah Research Unit, whose publications are available from the research unit's website, and drafted its Final Report, published as Agunah: The Manchester Analysis. He has also published extensively in early Jewish law and in modern legal philosophy.
Nechama Hadari gained her PhD in Religions and Theology from The University of Manchester in 2012. Her doctoral thesis – on the rabbinic understanding of the human will in the context of Jewish Divorce Law – was awarded the International Council of Jewish Women’s annual prize for academic research in 2013 and was published as a monograph “The Kosher Get: A Halakhic Story of Divorce”.
Further information