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Filmography
RITES OF PASSAGE: THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF ALICE SHALVI (59 min., Israel, 1999)
A portrait of the Israeli feminist icon and peace activist Alice Shalvi. The film is a richly textured tribute weaving together home movies, archival footage, and Shalvi’s splendidly-told tales.
Official Selection: Berlin Jewish Film Festival. Broadcast as an ABC-TV SPECIAL. Distribution: National Center for Jewish Film.
BLESSINGS: ROOMMATES IN JERUSALEM (46 min., Israel,2002) A warm and funny documentary accompanies Ilana and Shulamit – two older women with developmental disabilities – through their lives, culminating in their Bat Mitzvah in a reform synagogue in Jerusalem.
Official Selection: San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Berlin Jewish Film Festival.
SELF PORTRAIT: 1995/2002 (10 min., Israel 2002) On retreat in Rockport Maine. Far from family and friends. Weiman-Kelman turns the camera on herself. “I love being behind the camera. I don’t like being in front of the camera. But that doesn’t mean I want to be invisible…”
IN HIS OWN WORDS: RALPH GOLDMAN ON A LIFE OF JEWISH COMMUNAL SERVICE ( 41 min. Israel 2004) Combining historical footage and contemporary interviews this film brings first-hand accounts of events that have determined the course of Jewish history over the past six decades – a course that Goldman helped chart.
Broadcast on the History Channel, Distribution: The Joint Distribution Committee.
EYES WIDE OPEN (60 min., Israel/USA 2008) follows a wide range of American Jews on visits to Israel. It is a warm and personal film that vividly conveys the joys and ambivalences that characterize the emotional connection between American Jews and Israel. Eyes Wide Open succeeds in lifting the spirit while raising important questions. Official Selection: Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Screened extensively by Jewish Film Festivals, JCCs and Hillel.
Distribution: Ruth Diskin Films http://www.ruthfilms.com/films/docs/eyes-wide-open.html
FRINGES: NEW ADVENTURES IN JEWISH LIVING (72 min., Israel/USA 2013) presents three stories of spiritual innovation braided together to create an inspiring portrait of cutting-edge Judaism in the 21st century. Official Selection: Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival, Religion Today Festival in Trento, Italy, Rumanian Jewish Festival, Hungarian Jewish Film Festival – translated into Italian, Hungarian, and Rumanian. Distribution: Ruth Diskin Films http://www.ruthfilms.com/fringes.html
TORAH TREASURES AND CURIOUS TRASH (24 min., Israel 2015)
Jo Milgrom, an 87 year old artist/feminist/Jewish thinker, scavenges Jerusalem dumpsters for choice junk. Armed with only a glue gun, she challenges the religious establishment by juxtaposing the sacred and the mundane in her assemblage. Her outsider mixed-media art packs in unflinching commentaries on biblical narratives, spirituality, gender and politics.
The film premiered at the Jerusalem Theater in 2015. Official Selection: Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Austin Jewish Film Festival, Internacional de Cine Judio en Mexico Distribution: 7th Art http://www.7thart.com/films/torah-treasures-and-curious-trash
THE RE-ANNOTATED ALICE (33 min., Israel 2017)
Twenty years ago, Weiman-Kelman celebrated Alice Shalvi’s accomplishments at 70. Now, The Re-Annotated Alice reveals Alice at 90, recovering from her husband’s death. We sense the vulnerability and courage of a woman facing the frustrations of old age and the inevitability of death. Alice is still fighting for peace, women’s rights, and a just society. She reflects on her regrets, reveals her undiminished appetite for music and literature and, above all, her enormous capacity for friendship.
Official Selection: Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival 2017.
DYING DOESN’T FEEL LIKE WHAT I’M DOING ( 63 min., Israel/USA, 2020)
When Rachel Cowan, an influential mindfulness teacher, and the first female Jew by choice ordained as a Rabbi, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, she turned dying into an opportunity to experience gratitude.
Official Selection: The Athena Festival 2020.