Screening of Ziyara
Thursday, April 16, 2026, 18:30 -
Thursday, April 16, 2026, 21:00
Event duration 2 hours
General Admission Sales start on Feb 18, 2026:
USD 0.00
About Screening of Ziyara
In Arabic, Ziyara (زيارة) means visit to the saints. Celebrated filmmaker Simone Bitton embarks on a personal road trip across Morocco, tracing the remnants of the country’s once-thriving Jewish community. In the 1950s, Morocco was home to 300,000 Jews; today, only a small fraction remain, yet their saints’ tombs endure—cared for by Muslim guardians who preserve their memory. Through close examination of synagogues, shrines, and village records, Bitton uncovers stories of coexistence, loss, and endurance. Ziyara is both a meditation on migration and a hopeful reflection on shared heritage, revealing a delicate thread between past and present, tradition and modernity. As the camera gathers stories, smiles, and blessings, it patiently repairs connections long thought severed.
Events Schedule
Thursday, April 16, 2026, 18:30
Thursday, April 16, 2026, 21:00
Event Categories
Movie Screenings
Languages
Arabic
French
English
Columbia University Maison Française
https://maisonfrancaise.columbia.edu/
515 West 116th Street
For more than a century, the Columbia Maison Française has been a leader in fostering intellectual and cultural exchange between the United States and France, Europe, and the French-speaking world. The rich program of events at the Maison Française generates debate, spotlights original scholarship, promotes exchange across disciplines at Columbia and beyond, and contributes to international and cross-cultural understanding in an increasingly global world. Housed in historic Buell Hall, and beautifully renovated for its 2013 Centennial, the Maison Française frequently hosts top thinkers, artists, and leaders for talks, roundtable discussions, academic conferences, seminars, and stimulating conversations across a range of topics and disciplines. In addition, the Maison offers film screenings, occasional performances and exhibits, a book club, a weekly café-conversation for students, and hosts dinners, receptions, and other special events. These attract Columbia students and faculty while also engaging broader audiences from New York City. Speakers in recent years have included Jeanne Balibar, Viggo Mortensen, Bill McKibben, Claude Lanzmann, Thomas Piketty, Maryse Condé, and Alice Diop. The Maison Française has been directed since September 2009 by Shanny Peer and is guided by a distinguished Advisory Board chaired by Frédéric Rozé. The Maison Française is part of a network of departments and programs that make Columbia a leading center for French and Francophone studies, furthering Columbia’s mission as a global university. These include the Department of French, the Institute for African Studies, the Alliance Program, and Columbia Global Centers / Europe in Paris.