(Jewish Group) Watched 'Beauty Queen of Jerusalem'? 7 other movies and shows that feature Ladino
“The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” has made headlines as one of the Israeli TV industry’s most elaborate and expensive productions ever.
The series, which follows a family of Spanish Sephardic Jews living in Jerusalem through different decades of the early 20th century, also features Ladino — the centuries-old language sometimes referred to as Judeo-Spanish that combines medieval Spanish, Hebrew, Aramaic, Turkish, Greek, Arabic and other influences.
Ladino, spoken by Jewish communities throughout the Ottoman Empire and North Africa who had fled the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, is today only spoken by up to a few hundred thousand people, according to various scholarly estimates. In recent years it has seen a bit of a resurgence through descendants looking to reclaim their ancestors’ language.
Ladino is especially rare in TV and movies. But JTA writers have compiled a list of a few that feature at least some spoken Ladino and are available to rent or to stream for free online, dating from 1973 to the present day.
more...