Holy Ghetto

Aliena
3 days ago
9 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

It’s not every day that I get to meet a fellow polymath, so when my friend iLan Azoulai told me that his documentary film was coming to L.A., it was clear we needed to talk.

“Holy Ghetto” is a 14-year journey created by iLan Azoulai, a documentary filmmaker and member of the Los Angeles community, into the old Central Station in Tel Aviv – the mythical Israeli “Harlem” that few have dared to approach. Through four extraordinary characters, he reveals a story of survival, humanity and hope, which is already integrated into the Youth Rehabilitation Programs of the Puerto Rican government.

How was the film born?

It was not planned at all. I had lived in Boston for 20 years, and I was involved in a film-making project about human trafficking in Nepal and India. When I came to Israel for a visit in late 2009, I went to this area because I grew up there: my father was the chief of the Tel Aviv police, but before that he was a police officer from the Central Station area. So I grew up there and since I had already been exposed to the issue of human trafficking, when I arrived at the station, I started noticing things. I had to see if there was anything here. The first person I was introduced to was Dave, and I immediately liked him. Then I met the rest. I spent hours with Yana at her house, and with her daughter Eileen, who is the subject of the film "Flower". We stayed in touch until I left. I met Olga through Rita Chaikin, who was the head of "Woman to Woman" in Haifa, an organization that helps women who have been trafficked. Olga was the hardest to crack, I thought I would give up on her. But with time and my efforts, she started to open up... I'm still in touch with her and Dave to this day.

What was the process?

I carried a camera with me the whole time, but it took me about three months to start shooting. At first I thought about going to film school, but my friend Chico Colvard, who was my film mentor, told me “Forget school, go buy the equipment and start shooting, you have a good eye”... and for 6-8 months he sat with me every day in my studio in Boston and taught me film.

The film took me 14 years. When I started filming, everything went smoothly for me. Everything flowed. Everyone I wanted to meet, everything I wanted to do, I got permits and materials from the police and I even rode with them on a night patrol, with my camera. I filmed in the Knesset. I wrote; I bought all the equipment I needed. In 2015 I stopped working on the film, everything closed in on me. Then in 2022 I moved to Redondo Beach and for the first time had an apartment facing the ocean. I started working on the film, and my sound therapy client at the time showed interest in the film; she told me she'd like to see the film finished and that she would help me to the finish line. Shirley Paden is the executive producer on the film and is God-sent.

Do you think the film plays a part in the success of those who succeeded?

Yes, of course, they told me so. It's therapy for them because they've never talked about it and there's no one to talk to. And for me, it was also confirmation that I'm going through a very deep process. Towards the end of the film, when Ohad talks about Olga, I felt like God was speaking to me through him. Because I too was sexually abused as a child, and I have all the signs and all the elements to be an addict prostitute at the old Central Station. This film takes you to the rawest place, and raw isn't low, it's exposed. I used to think that exposure was weakness. But it is power and not at the expense of someone else.

When I moved to LA, I made Friday Videos and talked a lot about reclaiming our own power – and this is what my film does. It's an impact film – Social rather than political. The government of Puerto Rico is now incorporating the film into their legal system in a program to rehabilitate teenagers and young people with drugs. It's also a historical film because they've already closed the station, they tore everything down and this area will be developed.

Have the characters seen the film?

Dave only saw the film recently. At the time when Dave arrived at the Station, he saw that there was nothing. Tel Aviv municipality received a budget of 9 million shekels from the government that was intended only to rehabilitate women in prostitution at the central station. And they did nothing. The municipality and the Knesset came to Dave and told him that they wanted to cooperate. They invited journalists to the Cinematheque, Dave wasn’t invited – and opened "Sal’eet": a municipal shelter for women in prostitution and female street residents.

Dave did not expect to receive an award, but he hoped for recognition, for gratitude. I didn’t include it in the film because that is not the story. But for Dave it was a big breakdown. He disappeared and didn’t want anything to do with anyone from that life. Because all the work with the women was actually to save his mother, whom he didn’t save, and his mother never told him that she loved him, until before she killed herself. He didn’t recover from it. I had no contact with him for 4 years. I asked someone who had been in contact with him to tell him that the film was out and if he didn’t sign my permits, everything would go down the drain. So, he agreed and we talked.

Olga hasn't seen the film yet either. But I respect that. What gave me access to people is my ability to see them, that they are not transparent to me. It is the stage that I gave them and that they gave me because they reflected with me. Dave, Ohad, Yana, Olga – they are all an actual part of me. And maybe also of the viewer.

Tell me about yourself

I am 58 years old. I was born in Tel Aviv. I grew up in Bat-Yam but I loved spending a lot of time with my grandmother who lived in Florentin and the central bus station area. At the age of 13 I moved in with her. I grew up in a "traditional" home, where they do Kiddush but go to the beach on Shabbat. I had to get up with my father every Shabbat at 7 am and join him to synagogue.

The sexual abuse that began at a young age, repeated itself until my mid-teens. At school, the teachers thought I was getting smart and rude, and I suffered from bullying. At 10, I felt completely unmoored: disconnected, without meaning or direction. I had no purpose and no place in the world. They kept telling me “Be quiet, don't say anything”.

In fifth grade I was doing tics with my eyes and my parents took me to an optometrist. I said “Why are you taking me to an optometrist? I can see very well”. You know what the optometrist said to my parents? "He sees too well, he needs glasses"... After a week my parents realized that they were ripped off, and I can see perfectly well. They didn't connect the behavior with my mental distress; they couldn't understand it. Then, at the age of 13 they became extremely orthodox. All of a sudden, you can't watch TV on Shabbat, you have to pray 3 times a day.

At the age of 10, I found my anchor. Matti Caspi. He is my door to hope. I would follow him to all his performances. After every performance I would meet with him. He was like a father figure. Because I suffered abuse and beatings from my family, but in Matti behind that Poker Face of him I immediately recognized the nobility and tenderness and love, and most importantly – he is a seeker of truth and justice. Suddenly I also discovered the world of music and its special rhythms. At the age of 11 I received a guitar, my pre-Bar Mitzvah gift. Apart from Matti’s music, I would talk like him, sing like him, and grow an afro. It wasn't until 40 years later that I met him. A journalist friend of mine offered me to meet with him after the show, and he said, "I remember this face." Then I called him in 2020 when I had the podcast "Abracadabra – Create As You Speak" and told him I wanted an interview with him. Since then, I've had several interviews with him, and I also made video clips of three of his songs for him, and he really liked them. We were in touch until his last day, and we won't go into the circumstances of his death.

What were your teenage years like?

I was in the “Working and Learning” Youth Band for 5-6 years. I danced on stages in Israel with the band, and in the summer, I would take the bus from the central station and perform at all the Arad festivals.

In the army, I wanted to be in a military band and took exams, and even passed two stages, but I had a 97 profile – suitable for combat and they didn't even want to release me for the exams. I once took exams with Matti Caspi for "Amazing Tropical Land" when he was with Leah Shabat whom I performed with before she was famous. I performed a lot, including free concerts for soldiers in Prison 4.

Then I studied at “Rimon” School of Music from 89 to 92, released my first single in 92, and then moved to the US.

What is your calling?

I am a spiritual mentor and therapist with sound, Tibetan bowls, and the frequencies of our voice. Our voice is a hologram of all that we are. The voice has everything. I work with the voice, analyze its range, and help people maximize the physical journey by understanding the spiritual, by channeling through sound therapy. Because everything in the physical dimension has a spiritual cause and reason.

All these years I have been in multimedia: computers, and Apple, especially in music. At the Rimon School of Music in 89, I started making digital music, and became Apple certified, I worked for Apple and taught at their school and workshops. Then I interned at Apple and as a freelancer, my clients were Harvard and Pomona Colleges. I do photography, video and stills, voiceovers – Ben Kingsley has a new series on Amazon called “The Old Stories: Moses”, and I do the voice of God. I’ve done commercials such as Chewey. I do ventriloquism and work with kids online. I’ve done children’s plays, also here in LA I acted in Ori Dinur’s play as the Yemeni rabbi. Now I’m working on a comedy with some colorful characters from the three religions, who come to cook a Jubilee feast together. I also got a commercial driver’s license and occasionally I drive.

In Kansas I studied graphic design at a community college, and at the University of Missouri Kansas City graphic design and communications, and digital music. Then I moved to Boston and studied music at Berklee. I also studied art history. But I didn’t get a degree in anything, my learning is just to remind me of what I already know. In Boston, I continued my studies at Harvard and Pomona Colleges and developed a 3-D modeling system for the college.

In 2009, I began spiritual work with a Peruvian shaman. I began studying herbs and doing groups, I got certified at various therapies, studied NLP and CBT at a Jerusalem Institute, and then I learned from an Indian spiritual teacher about Tibetan singing bowls and their power for mental and physical healing, I really got into the scientific matter of frequencies.

Why did you call the film "Holy Ghetto"?

Yana gave the film its title when she complained about the situation in Israel, and when she said those two words, it went straight to my soul, and I said "Bingo!" Because I believe that we are all born into a ghetto of beliefs that were passed down to us, a story written by others even before we took our first breath. What to do, what not to do, what is acceptable and therefore good, what is bad. We inherit fear. Survival. Judgment. Identity. Frameworks that do not belong to us, and yet they become the walls within which we live. And even when we want to break free from the prison of limiting beliefs, we struggle. Because this prison is familiar to us. This is the way of our ancestors. This is what we were raised on. It becomes, well … sacred.

The film is about the daily duality that we live in: between freedom and fear, between who we really are and who we are told to be, between judgment and love, between survival and transformation. And it is mainly a film about hope, the sacred spark that always exists within us, about change and the courage to make it. I want people to be empowered by it, and to understand that even in the darkest place there is hope. As Olga says at the beginning of the film – “How can you live without hope?” I want this film to encourage you to remember your strength, to see your light.

“Holy Ghetto” is a life journey that illuminates the darkest places through the people who manage to dream and change. Now it's coming to us too and will be screened on the brightest day of the year.

🎬 HOLY GHETTO

West Coast Premiere Los Angeles

Dances With Films Festival

📍 TCL Chinese Theatre, Hollywood

📅 June 21, 2026 | 6:15 PM

Film website: www.holyghettofilm.com

To purchase tickets: https://danceswithfilms.com/2026-holy-ghetto/