Description

NTSC Format - USA / Canada

Synopsis

Trembling Before G-d is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious fundamentalism. Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are gay or lesbian, the film portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma - how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, we meet a range of complex individuals - some hidden, some out - from the world's first openly gay Orthodox rabbi to closeted, married Hasidic gays and lesbians to those abandoned by religious families to Orthodox lesbian high-school sweethearts.

Many have been tragically rejected and their pain is raw, yet with irony, humor, and resilience, they love, care, struggle, and debate with a thousands-year old tradition. Ultimately, they are forced to question how they can pursue truth and faith in their lives. Vividly shot with a courageous few over five years in Brooklyn, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, London, Miami, and San Francisco, Trembling Before G-d is an international project with global implications that strikes at the meaning of religious identity and tradition in a modern world. For the first time, this issue has become a live, public debate in Orthodox circles, and the film is both witness and catalyst to this historic moment. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament to faith and survival and the universal struggle to belong.

About Trembling Before G-d and Trembling on the Road

"Rarely, if ever, have I experienced a documentary that excited an audience to such a level of engagement -- and makes possible the reality of change. "
- Jim Fouratt, Indiewire

Trembling Before G-d had a World Premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, had a wide theatrical release in the United States, Canada, Israel, South Africa, Germany, UK, and Czech Republic and was broadcast worldwide in over 30 countries - Israel’s Keshet Broadcasting/Channel 2, BBC, The Sundance Channel, France/Germany’s ZDF/ARTE, Denmark's Channel 2, Australia's ABC, HBO Latin America, Netherlands’ NIK, Poland’s Canal Plus, Canada’s Documentary Channel and other TV stations from Ukraine to Portugal to Slovakia. Trembling Before G-d has been seen by an estimated 8 million people worldwide.

Trembling on the Road is about that process. It is a 40-minute featurette on the Deluxe 2-Disc DVD edition - a dramatic document of dialogues, protests, reactions, and events -- poignant, funny, angry, interesting – from the worldwide tour of Trembling Before G-d. Many people who have seen Trembling Before G-d in theaters, festivals or on TV have never seen Trembling on the Road. While for many, Trembling Before G-d was “dare to despair” -- Trembling on the Road documents how the film profoundly touched and transformed the lives of individuals, their families, communities, rabbis and teachers – it is incredibly uplifting and hopeful and says it is possible to make change.

To learn more about Trembling Before G-d, Trembling on the Road, and the 5th Anniversary Celebration, log on to www.filmsthatchangetheworld.com

Festivals

Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival 2001, Documentary Competition
Winner: Berlin Film Festival 2001, Teddy Award for Best Documentary and International Federation of Film Societies Nomination.
Winner: GLAAD Media Award. Outstanding Documentary 2003
Winner: Jerusalem Film Festival, Mayor’s Prize for the Jewish Experience, 2001
Winner: Outfest, Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary.
Winner: Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, Council on Foundations
Nomination: Independent Spirit Awards for the IFC/Directv Truer Than Fiction Award.


Press Reviews:

"Unforgettable! Provocative!" - Elvis Mitchell, New York Times
"Fascinating!" - David Ansen, Newsweek
"Powerful!" - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"Surprisingly Funny" - Jan Stuart, Newsday

Production Credits & Notes

Director: Sandi Simcha Dubowski
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Number of discs: 2
DVD Release Date: October 21, 2003

Disc 1: TREMBLING BEFORE G-D (84 minutes)
Disc 2: TREMBLING ON THE ROAD FEATURETTE (39 minutes) + SPECIAL FEATURES

Trembling on the Road - A 40-minute featurette - a dramatic document of dialogues, protests, reactions, and events -- poignant, funny, angry, interesting – from the worldwide tour of Trembling Before G-d.
Petach Lev - The Trembling Israeli Education Project – Interviews with a group of the facilitators telling the stories of their groundbreaking work.
More With the Rabbis - Excerpts from interviews with a number of prestigious Orthodox rabbis about the issue of homosexuality –. Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Rabbi Aron Tendler, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi Meir Fund and Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo.
More with Rabbi Steve Greenberg - The story of a religious leader’s twenty years of struggle to come out.
Interview with the Director – The story behind the story, how a film became a movement, and the challenges met in creating this landmark work.
Mark: The Musical - What if MTV did a spiritual music video? Mark sings his way through Jerusalem’s Hasidic neighborhoods. Includes rare footage of the Hasidic world from Israel, Madison Square Garden, and Brooklyn.
Behind The Silhouettes - The making of the silhouettes – only at the end of the film is it revealed that the Orthodox gay and lesbian community came together to form their image behind the screen. The story of turning a soundstage into a virtual shtetl and how invisibility was illuminated.
Shlomo on Donahue
What is The Atonement Ceremony for Sexual Sins?
Tomboychik - Director’s short film - DuBowski’s first film. A series of intimate video vignettes depicting the fierce love between Malverna and Sandi, 88 and 22, grandmother and grandson. The two playmates dress up drag-esque for this moving portrait of a woman’s struggle with gender and sexuality. Since Malverna's death, Tomboychik has become a living memorial to the intensity of her spirit. Winner Golden Gate Award for Best Short Documentary, San Francisco Film Festival.
An International Resource Guide for Orthodox GLBT Jews
Subtitles in Spanish, Hebrew, and Yiddish