Breaking the Wall (2013)

Vicki Shiran began her career as an instructor in a youth theater workshop during the 1970's. It was during the turbulent years of the "Black Panthers" in Israel. Her work with the youth from the needy neighborhoods set her on a career of social activism, forming social movements such as ELA, ACHOTI, The Mizrahi Democratic Coalition and others. She was the initiator of struggles against injustice such as the campaign against the TV series "Pillar of Fire" and the successful Kibbutzim Land court appeal. After receiving her doctorate she initiated the first ever Gender dept. at Beit Berl College and was a sought after public and political speaker. At the height of her activity, Shiran is diagnosed with cancer but carries on her fight for social change for another 7 years until the disease finally beats her. After her death a poetry book is found among her writings - a sensitive and painful remainder of her extraordinary talent. At certain times a person's biography can faithfully mirror the spirit of a social struggle. Vicki Shiran's story represents the story of the rise, and some say the fall, of the social struggle for equality that characterized Israel in the past forty years.