This year’s Graduation films of the Ma’aleh Film school’s Ultra-orthodox track

In the framework of the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival, I went to see the graduating films of the Ultra-orthodox women filmmakers who have been studying at Ma’aleh.  The films were varied – documentary and fiction – and dealt with a wide range of subjects. Seven short films were screened.  All of them were compelling and provocative and succeeded in portraying important issues.

An award for outstanding student filmmaker was presented to Esti Viye.  She directed two films that were screened today:

• ·       Happily Ever After (13 minutes, drama) – Shira is a young mother who has left her kids with her parents and has organized a romantic anniversary getaway with her husband, who is a reserve soldier. She is excited to see him and is terribly disappointed as reality sets in and their time together is cut short.  Shira is finding it hard to hold it together.  This film really talked to me because there were so many miluim families in Israel who were traumatized and severely affected by the demands of the war of the last two years.
• ·       The Lifeguard (13 minutes, documentary) – Esti’s father is a lifeguard and he loves the water.  But Esti finds it difficult to enter the pool or the sea.  In trying to reconnect with her father over a past trauma, she realizes she must overcome her fear of the water.

There were two films by filmmaker Bat Sheva Haddad:

• ·       Houses of Silence (20 minutes, documentary) – The filmmaker and her daughter go on a personal journey documenting the homes in their neighborhood in Gedera which are hiding terrible secrets about babies who were kidnapped during the early years of the State.
• ·       He’s Coming (8 minutes, drama) – A story about abuse in the home. Before their father comes home, we can already feel that the mother and two daughters are afraid of him.  When he arrives, the 12-year-old takes her younger sister and runs away, while in the background we hear the father abusively yelling at their mother.

There were two films by filmmaker Sarah Libah Hanfling:

• ·       The Bride (15 minutes, drama) -– In the weeks leading up to her wedding, a woman, who has been previously married and traumatized, is grappling with her fears.
• ·       Still Here (14 minutes, drama) – A young mother is exhausted, depressed and overworked and finds herself pregnant again.  Out of despair, she contemplates suicide. A stunning performance by the actress, Tamar Diskin.

One more film was directed by Chayaleh Arnster:

• ·       Unacceptable (15 minutes, drama) -- Moishe is a yeshiva student and he loves music.  His parents are arranging a match for him but he only has eyes for Ayala.  In a world in which you can only get married by shidduch, he has to come up with a plan.

 

 

 

Faith, Intermarriage, and Acceptance of the "Other"

Between Worlds (בין העולמות), directed by Miya Hatav, is a feature film about faith in God and acceptance of the “other”. The story tells of a relationship between two women who are from different worlds –one is an ultra-orthodox Jew and the other is Arab.  They meet in a hospital, both visiting the same young man who has been hurt in a terrorist incident.  One woman is his religious mother and the other is his girlfriend.  When his father arrives, it becomes clear that there has been a deep family rift for a long time. 

The girlfriend, Amal, is Arab and is afraid to tell the family who she is.  Pretending to be visiting someone in a nearby room, she slowly forms a relationship with the mother.  While they are at the hospital all day, the father, a sofer, is searching for an explanation for what has happened to his son and busies himself with checking Yoel’s tefillin.  Meanwhile, the mother realizes who the girl really is and a touching and warm relationship begins to develop between them.

Telling a woman’s story, this film is both a surprisingly human portrayal and also a tragic story.  It is human because we feel the loneliness, the tension and the fear as both women try to resolve their feelings about the young man in the hospital bed.  It is tragic because both women are trapped in their worlds, unable to truly reach out to the other.  Without offering a spoiler, I must say that the film’s ending is a bit disappointing, not really resolving any of the issues that arise within the narrative. 

Between Worlds (feature film, 84 minutes) is available from Go2Films.  

Through the Wall by Rama Burshtein

Through the Wall, directed by the religious filmmaker, Rama Burshtein, is a new comedy drama, an impressive film about providence, faith, matchmaking, and a woman’s desire for marriage, all on the backdrop of life within the haredi (ultra-orthodox) community in Israel.   Michal is a 32-year-old single woman, religious-by-choice, living within the haredi community and hunting for her intended already for many years.   She is obviously a unique person since she makes a living by traveling around in her little mini-van, taking her petting zoo to birthday parties.  This gives a quirky feel to the entire film!

When Michal’s new fiancé changes his mind about their engagement, instead of cancelling the hall and the wedding dress, she declares that her faith in God tells her that she will have a groom on the date originally planned. 

Of course, you can’t leave things to chance, or to God’s providence, you have to help a bit, and she sets out looking for her groom.  First she seeks out help from a religious woman who offers a superstitious ceremony in order to help Michal find her intended. Instead of becoming a ridiculously comic scene, it takes a turn for the serious when the woman forces Michal to admit what it is she’s looking for.  This scene provides a series of wonderful and touching revelations and we discover that, in addition to the obvious things -- marriage, love, and companionship – she is also looking for status as a married woman within the community and for the opportunity to entertain others at her own Friday night dinner table.   

Don’t you feel sorry for those young haredi men on the street who keep their eyes down and are unable to look at women passersby?  Michal goes on dates arranged by matchmakers and one of the dates is with a seemingly lovely young man, but he is unable to look at her.  He explains that the woman he marries will be more beautiful because she will be the only woman he looks at!  Michal is appalled at this.

She even travels as far as Oman.  While praying and crying at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, a surprising experience brings her some hope.  You might think that Michal is willing to marry just about anyone, as long as he will agree to show up on the date planned, but it’s not true.  She is apparently quite careful, and turns so many men away as a result of her sense of humor, her insight and her biting tongue.

To those who remember Rama Burshtein’s award-winning debut film, Fill the Void, this is similar in that it is a feel-good story that takes place within the haredi community.  It is also about marriage and matchmaking, and it has wonderful pacing and a complex story.  This film differs from the other in that Fill the Void was a serious drama and Through the Wall is a comedy drama.  The main characters, and even some of the secondary ones, are portrayed in a compelling and in-depth manner, but some are comic characters. The script has quirky elements and you just love Michal and her sisters. 

Through the Wall (aka The Wedding Plan) is available from The Match Factory.

The Role of the Ultra-Orthodox Woman

In a new documentary film, Measures of Merit, by Irit Dekel and Roni Aboulafia, we are offered a view of the world of Haredi (ultra-orthodox) women.  It is not easy being a Haredi woman.  They live in a man's world -- their lives are run by their husbands and their rabbis, they are harassed by the dayanim (judges) in the religious courts, and they have no representation in the Knesset.

This film offers a fascinating portrayal of one woman, Ruth Colian -- a woman who wants to change all that. She is a courageous and outspoken Haredi woman who is fighting for representation for Haredi women in the Knesset.

It would be a dramatic precedent for her to obtain a place in the Knesset.  The official Haredi point-of-view is that women have different roles in life from men.  Women must take care of the children, the home, and obey their husbands and their rabbis.  Otherwise, they begin to descend the dangerous slope towards assimilation.

But Ruth Colian believes that women's voices must be heard and that issues relevant specifically to women -- such as poverty, divorce, and gender issues -- are not being given fair treatment by the Haredi men who have been elected, who do not see themselves as representatives of women also.  In this film, we see Colian decide to create her own political party and to run for the Knesset, and we realize that this is not because she has a strong ego but rather she is motivated by a responsibility for the quality of her daughters' future.

In one of her speeches, she opens with: "It's more worthwhile to be silent, but more honorable to fight."

There are those who argue that it is immodest for a woman to be active in the political sphere and that her party contradicts the values of Haredi life.  But she cannot be dissuaded.

This is a film filled with drama and tension as election day approaches and our candidate works tirelessly, with virtually no budget, to get elected.

Measures of Merit (Hebrew title: A Jewish Woman, 49 minutes, documentary) is available from Ruth Diskin Films.