Jewish film festival examines women’s issues across cultures

Jewish Women in Global Perspective, a documentary film festival exploring Jewish women’s authority and identity across cultures, is showing this weekend during an election season in which the topic of gender is pertinent.

“I couldn’t think of a better time to do this when so many people are outraged by how these politicians are misrepresenting and ignoring women,” said graduate student and co-creator of the festival Devorah Shubowitz. “We do not simply share random biological features, but world views, values and life circumstances. The conversations in these films are the ones we wish were happening in the publicized political arenas.”

The event will feature 10 films, all of which will be shown at different times. After each film is shown, experts will lead a discussion.

The panelists will respond to the film for about five minutes followed by an open forum that will last 20 to 30 minutes.

The panelists are a diverse group of individuals, including filmmakers Jennifer Fox and Faye Lederman, Jewish religious leaders, a lawyer, a birth doula (a person trained and experienced in childbirth) and students and professors from the gender studies, Jewish studies, communication and culture, religious studies and India studies departments.

The festival is free of charge, food will be provided, and audience members may come and go as they please.

Shubowitz and Jessica Alpert, two graduate students who founded the event, hope the festival will be thought-provoking and begin a conversation on what it means to be a woman, using Jewish women as the main example.

“The key word is global,” Shubowitz said. “We are looking at Jewish women across the world. What does being a Jewish woman mean in different contexts? All of the women’s lives who we see in these films are different, but in some ways these Jewish women are similar. We want to spark conversation about how women connect to their
identities, not just relating to Jewish women, but Islamic women, Christian women and all women who identify themselves a certain way.”

One of the goals of the festival is for audience members to learn about other cultures and religions.

“The more diversity present at the film festival, the more everyone can be enriched,” said junior Leila Marsh, who helped organize the event.

The festival was partially inspired by Fox’s film “Flying Confessions of a Free Woman,” in which she asked women from more than 17 countries about common issues that women face.

“The film was an inspiration for getting a discussion going on this campus,” Marsh said. The film highlights that women from across the globe are more similar than different.”

“I hope that the viewers see that women everywhere are struggling with the same issues such as sex, rape and abuse,” Fox said.

One of the issues addressed in the film is that women are still dealing with the rules of the past, such as not having sex before marriage.

“It is an amazing time to be a woman, but it has never been more complicated,” Fox said. “Freedom makes things harder, and we must work harder to deal with it all.”

“A Good Uplift,” produced and directed by Lederman, is about a lingerie shop on New York’s Lower East Side that is run by orthodox Jews. The shop attracts women who seek the perfect bra fit. The main character, Magda, is accepting of all women’s bodies and helps her customers with their self-confidence.

Lederman uses the film to open the forum about body image by hosting workshops
.
“Anecdotally, people connect to the material of the film and the workshops,” Lederman said. “I hope they gain acceptance of their own bodies and other women’s bodies.”
Films can help individuals understand how they fit into a complicated world.
“Film is a mirror into our own lives,” Shubowitz said.


Jewish Women in Global Perspective documentary film festival schedule:
Saturday
6 p.m. – “Flying Confessions of a Free Woman” in the Frangipani Room
Sunday
10 a.m. - “In Search of Bene Israel” and “The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America” in the Oak Room
10 a.m. – “Be Fruitful and Multiply” and “Sentenced to Marriage” in the Dogwood Room
3:30 p.m. – “A Good Uplift,” “Hineni” and “Making Trouble” in the Frangipani Room
Monday
9 a.m. – “Watermarks” and “Praying with Lior” in the Frangipani Room
All films shown in Indiana Memorial Union