SHOWTIMES: 8:45p - MON 2/22
PART OF THE 2010 ATHENS JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
LEON is devoted to the northern Spanish town of Leon, a town with a rich, but little-known, Jewish history. Through testimonies and interviews we hear fascinating personal stories and discover the extent to which the ties between Jewish and Spanish culture has survived to this day. An entire chapter is devoted to the Jewish scholar, Moses de Leon, who was born in Leon and was a prominent spiritual leader of his time, a Kabbalist, a philosopher and one of the authors of the Zohar.
The moving story of two women, descendents of Marranos, provides recent testimony that they continue to practice Jewish rituals in their homes. The excavations at Puente del Castro and the findings -- revealed here for the first time -- point to a 10th century Jewish settlement on the site. And, we discover Agaden the mystical spot among the Aquilianos mountains near the town of Ponferrada, where a group of banished Jews got lost on their way to Portugal.
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