AllMovie

My Father's House was the first feature-length film to be shot in its entirety in Palestine. Since it was completed in 1947, the film frequently focusses on the efforts by refugee European Jews to carve a homeland out of the Palestinian desert. The protagonist is 11-year-old David (Ronnie Cohen), who during WW2 is separated from his parents when his family is shipped off to the Nazi concentration camps. Just before he is herded into a train, David's father promises that the family will some day be reunited in the Holy Land. Surviving the Holocaust, David desperately searches for his parents, in hopes that his father's parting words will come true. Everyone with whom the boy comes into contact knows that David's parents are dead, but the boy will not be dissuaded or discouraged. While the ending can't be described as happy, David's odyssey does end on a note of hope. Financed in part by the Jewish Defense Fund, My Father's House was produced by Hollywood director Herbert Kline and screenwriter/critic Meyer Levin, using a cast of nonprofessional but immensely capable Hebrew-speaking actors. The film was originally released in tandem with two Palestinian short subjects, Home in the Desert and Assignment Tel Aviv.