Return to MGLFF Home PageStories of Gay Observant Jews at Preview Screening
Benefit for Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
What: Trembling Before G-D sneak preview film screening & reception Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival benefit
When: Sunday, November 19 , 4pm reception (kosher food); 5:30pm film followed by panel discussion
Where: Colony Theater, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
Cost: $18 screening & panel discussion
$36 reception, screening & panel discussion
Tickets: In Advance:
… Festival office: by phone 305.534.9924, by fax 305.535.2377, or by email festivalinfo@the-beach.net (Visa and Mastercard only)
… TicketMaster: All outlets, by phone 305.358.5885 or 954.523.3309, or online at www.ticketmaster.com At the Colony Box Office: Tues.-Sat.,12-5pm, cash only
… Day of Event (11/19): Colony Theater Box Office, beginning at 3 pm, cash only Information: 305.534.9924, festivalinfo@the-beach.net, www.mglff.com
The Burstein Family Foundation will present a sneak preview screening of Trembling
Before G-D, the groundbreaking documentary by independent filmmaker Sandi
DuBowski, on Sunday, November 19, at 5:30 p.m. at the Colony Theater in
Miami Beach. The evening includes a reception with kosher food at the Colony
preceding the screening, as well as a panel discussion following the film. The
event will benefit the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival as well as
provide completion funds for the film.
DuBowski's film is a feature-length documentary about Hasidic and Orthodox
Jews who come out as gays and lesbians, and the ways in which they negotiate
their sexuality and identity within religious communities. Shot over five
years in Israel, Brooklyn, London, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco - in
English, with Hebrew and Yiddish - the film raises important and complex questions
about tradition, faith and contemporary identity.
Through vivid and emotional portraits of a diverse group of individuals, the stories of gay and lesbian Jews coming to terms with themselves and their observant Jewish world are brought to life. The stories include those who have left Orthodoxy who can go on camera, and those who are lesbian/gay and Orthodox who must remain anonymous.
"I have spent thousands of hours becoming part of the simchas [joys] and
pain of hundreds of Orthodox and formerly Orthodox gays and lesbians worldwide,"
DuBowski said. "Many people have sworn me to secrecy about the truths of
their lives but have been willing to participate because they believe in the
project's urgency and necessity - that Trembling Before G-D will be invaluable
for 'closeted' Orthodox people, as well as their families, friends and rabbis,
who suffer from a lack of life-affirming information about what it means to
be lesbian or gay. This film aims to open the possibility of compassion by being
both sounding board and intervention and putting a human face on all those involved."
Says Carole Fenster, Festival Board Member and a Miami-area therapist, "We hope this screening will broaden support for the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival by inviting people to participate in an event that holds interest outside the gay and lesbian community. The Festival adds another dimension to South Florida's cultural front and is one of the few events in the county that attracts a wide range of people across generational, ethnic, geographic and religious lines."
DuBowski received $95,000 in grants to create Trembling Before G-D. His previous project, Tomboychik, won the 1994 Golden Gate Award for Best Short Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival. That film was broadcast in June 1998 on New York television station WNET as part of the "Reel New York" series.
Event presenter, the Burstein Family Foundation, provides financial assistance to arts and culture, human rights endeavors, AIDS organizations, and Jewish organizations. "As a result of the money we have provided over the past five years, many organizations such as the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival have accomplished incredible things," said Harvey Burstein, who has awarded $1.5 million in grants since he began running the organization in 1995.
The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is a critically acclaimed, week-long
event that screens works of all genres, lengths and formats, including dramatic,
documentary and experimental features and shorts, by, about and of interest
to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and the transgendered community. The international
selection of films are all either world, U.S., East Coast or
Florida premieres, and have in the past included works from Germany, Sweden,
England, Spain, and Mexico, as well as the United States. It is the largest
gay event of any kind in Miami. The Third Annual Festival is slated for April
27-May 6.
Tickets are $18 for the screening and panel discussion, and $36 for the reception, screening and panel discussion. There are three options for purchasing tickets in advance. One is through the Festival office: by phone 305.534.9924, by fax 305.535.2377, or by email festivalinfo@the-beach.net (Visa and Mastercard only). Another is through TicketMaster outlets, phone charge at 305.358.5885 or 954.523.3309, or on the website at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available at the Colony Theater Box Office, 1040 Lincoln Road, from 12-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday, cash only. On the day of the event (Sunday, November 19), tickets can be purchased at the Colony Theater Box Office beginning at 3 pm, cash only.
For more information, e-mail the Festival at the festivalinfo@the-beach.net, visit the website at miamigaylesbianfilm.com, or call the Festival office at 305.534.9924.