Samira is a first-year psychology student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her colloquial Hebrew, sartorial choices, and mannerisms render her indistinguishable from her Jewish-Israeli contemporaries. Guez asks her to recount a recent experience: in the restaurant where she works as a waitress, her Arabic name evoked racist responses, causing her boss to request she change her name to the more Jewish-Israeli sounding Sima. They finally settle on Mira. As Samira recalls the incident and repeats it at Guez's prodding, she begins to articulate the complexity of her identity and how racism impacts her life. ‘(Sa)Mira’ was premiered at Petach Tikva Museum for Art, Israel.
Samira is a first-year psychology student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her colloquial Hebrew, sartorial choices and mannerisms render her indistinguishable from her Jewish Israeli contemporaries. Guez asks her to recount a recent experience: in the restaurant where she works as a waitress, her Arabic first name evoked racist responses, causing her boss to ask her to change her name to the more Jewishsounding Sima; they finally settle on Mira. As she recalls the incident and repeats it at Guez’s prodding, she begins to articulate the complexity of her identity and how racism impacts her life.