“The Tree of Life,” a documentary making its premiere Friday at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, recounts the history of the Jews of Italy through the saga of one family and the colorful stories of several of its members, including a Venetian scholar and mystic, a family of moneylenders in Florence during the Renaissance, a prominent Italian scientist, and Italy’s first Jewish prime minister.

Told from the perspective of director Hava Volterra and guided by her wish to understand her Italian-Jewish father, the film includes animated sequences and computer-enhanced marionette sequences as it explores how our parents and their past affect our sense of identity, well being, and self-worth.