Leaving Paradise

Southeast US Premiere

Cleo had always wanted to leave the big city in Brazil where he lives and move to a large farm with his family. After years of saving and planning, he is finally able to pursue his dream and relocate with his wife and 15 children to communal living in Brazil’s great outdoors. In establishing their family farm, the Barolo family grows closer than ever. They form a deep and powerful bond while working, cooking, studying, and playing music together. Everything appears to be working according to plan until Cleo’s daughter makes a startling discovery about their heritage — they are among the 30,000 Brazilians who are descendants of Sephardic Jews. In researching the Baralo family tree further, she discovers her family’s Jewish heritage, the news of which sets her and her siblings’ imaginations aflame with a burning desire to immigrate to Israel and convert to Judaism.