In Satmar Custody tells the story of the Jaradis, a Jewish Yemenite family convinced to move to the U.S. with the promise of aid by members of the orthodox Satmar Hasidic sect. The anti-Zionist Satmars offer payment for food, shelter and religious studies to convince Jews from Yemen to emigrate to the U.S. rather than Israel.

The story exposes a deep cultural gap between the Yemenite families and the Satmar community, which in the case of the Jaradis turns tragic. The film starts on the day that Yahia and Lauza Jaradi receive an urgent phone call notifying them that their two and a half year-old daughter, Hadia, died in a hospital in Paterson, N.J. Through their search for their daughter's body, they journey closer and closer to the painful truth about the Satmars and their own decision to come to the U.S.

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For more information, visit Ruth Diskin Films.
Read reviews of the film by the New York Times and the Village Voice.