Published: 20 May 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
A few courageous Haredi women film producers are creating movies for their own audience, changing the perception of entertainment in their society
IT HAS BECOME part of the experience of the “intermediate days” of Sukkot and Passover, which are considered holidays on which labour is allowed by Jewish law (unlike the Sabbath. In recent years the preferred leisure activity of ultra-Orthodox women, which in the past had been visiting a park, has become going to a movie.
A movie? For an ultra-Orthodox family? Until a few years ago, the concept of “seeing a movie,” to say nothing of an “ultra-Orthodox movie” did not exist in the ultra-Orthodox lexicon. The film industry was considered entirely improper by ultra-Orthodox leadership and a target for all-out cultural war.
But something has changed. The Edison Cinema — a building that for years drew ultra-Orthodox protests and was a symbol of secularism in Jerusalem — has become an apartment building for especially stringent ultra-Orthodox families.
Still, in the meantime, a new industry of ultra-Orthodox theatre and film has developed.
Behind these new ultra-Orthodox movies stand several ultra-Orthodox women filmmakers. The most prominent among them is Dina Perlstein, whose movie To Fill the Void, which she produced with director Rama Borstein, has won several awards.
Alongside her is the creator who is already considered a veteran, Tali Avrahami, whose name has become a brand among the ultra-Orthodox thanks to her movie, Bombay.
The same small group also includes Rechi Elias (“Suddenly”), as well as Yehuda Grovais, one of the very few men in the group, who 15 years ago produced a DVD for children which staged the rabbinic tale of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa.
These films are not screened at cinemas and cannot be streamed online. Screenings happen at crowded wedding halls during the intermediate days of Sukkot and Passover. Chairs are crammed into the halls in order to allow as many women to enjoy the movie. Popcorn is not part of the experience.
FULL STORY: Ultra-Orthodox women produce films, inspire Israeli girls (Al-Monitor)
Photo: Hila Feldman and Renana Raz in the 2012 film To Fill the Void (Norma productions)
