Published: 4 July 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
ZVI LANDSMAN doesn’t believe in conversion therapy, but his film argues demonising it misrepresents the experience. He talks to ELHANAN MILLER.
For Zvi Landsman, making a documentary about conversion therapy was personal.
A gay film director from a religious family, Landsman had never gone through the process but his ex-partner had spent nine years trying to change his homosexuality.
“It had a huge impact on his life,” Landsman said, “so I had this dream to document the things he spoke about, to document conversion therapy in real time.”
That dream was realised in July 2021, with the debut screening of The Therapy at the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival in Tel Aviv.
The film won the jury award, immediately making it a sensation on Israeli media. Never before had a film documented conversion therapy from the inside, nor the motivations and sentiments of its participants.
It took Landsman three years to convince Israeli film foundations to fund his idea. At first, he and co-producer Simon Winkler reached out to therapists in Jerusalem who agreed to appear on camera, but failed to deliver participants who would do the same. No one was interested in a movie with blurry-faced characters talking about themselves.
And then Landsman was put in touch with Lev. A 54-year-old American-born, ultra-Orthodox man from Beit Shemesh, Lev had been in and out of conversion therapy for years and continued to believe in it. Divorced from his wife, Lev wanted to share with viewers his attempt to find new romance with a woman. The film’s second protagonist is Ben, a 23-year-old social work student raised ultra-Orthodox and already on his way out, both from orthodoxy and conversion therapy. With these two participants, Landsman was able to win over the funders at Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster. As production was underway, Landsman also secured funding from the prestigious Sundance Institute.
