Subjects must hide their identity in documentary about gay Orthodox and Hasidic Jews
TREMBLING BEFORE G-D (Sandi Simcha DuBowski, 2001)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
Tuesday, April 26, 7:30
Series continues Tuesdays and/or Thursdays through May 31
212-924-7771
www.tremblingbeforeg-d.com
stfdocs.com
Being gay and an Orthodox Jew just doesn’t mix. Sandi Simcha DuBowski’s award-winning documentary, Trembling Before G-d, takes a close look at gay Orthodox and Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, Miami, Jerusalem, and London who are either rejected by their religious community or remain hidden in the closet, unable to express in public who they are. Many of the subjects use fake names and are shot in silhouette or by a handheld camera that never shows their full faces, in order to protect their identity; these powerful images get right to the heart and soul of the matter. The naysayers point out that the Bible clearly states that homosexuality is wrong, and they still believe that gays can be “cured” through therapy and atonement ceremonies for sexual sins or by eating figs. The film is having a special fifteenth-anniversary screening at the IFC Center as part of the Stranger than Fiction series and will be followed by what should be a lively and fascinating Q&A with DuBowski and subjects Rabbi Steve Greenberg, Michelle, Naomi, and Mark that should explore whether anything has changed in the last decade and a half. The series continues through May 31 with such other documentaries as Lynn True’s In Transit, Holly Morris’s The Babushkas of Chernobyl, and Ido Haar’s Presenting Princess Shaw, with Princess Shaw present for a Q&A.