DOCUMENTARY FILMS ABOUT HASIDISM
- The Spark, 28 minutes,
1974; an overview of the Lubavitch and Satmar of
New York.
- Prayer, 12 minutes, 196-;
silent experimental film on Hasidic prayer.
- Religious America: Lubavitch,
28 minutes, 1974; PBS documentary focusing on a
day in the life of a Lubavitcher man, with an
emphasis on ritual and lack of attention to
Hasidim's interaction with outside world.
- Ritual and Demonstrations,
42 minutes, 196-; Experimental film recording
religious rituals including circumcision,
opsherung (the cutting of a boy's hair at age 3),
study, bar mitzvah, and festivals.
- Eternal Light: Temptation
and Start with the World, 30 minutes each, 196-;
two intelligent religious programs produced by
NBC.
- Jerusalem of Heaven and Earth,
60 minutes, 198-; BBC (?) documentary on a rebbe
in Meah Shearim, Jerusalem.
- Bonjour Shalom, 50 minutes,
1991; film produced by Imageries on the Hasidic
community of Montreal.
- Hasidism in New York, 10
minutes, 198-; WABC news report on Hasidic
community in Brooklyn.
- King of Crown Heights, 60
minutes, 1993; a personal look at the Lubavitcher
Hasidim by Columbia University student Roggerio
Gabbai.
- Miracle of Bobov, 10
minutes, 198-; video produced by Bobover Hasidim
on the renewal of Bobover life in the United
States.
FILMS WITH SOME RELEVANT
MATERIALS
- The
Return of Sarah's Daughters, 55 minutes, 1998; a film by Marcia
Jarmel about women, tradition, and making sense
of the modern world.
- Trinidad in Brooklyn, 10
minutes; experimental short by Sol Rubin which
juxtaposes shots of Caribbean Day Parade in
Brooklyn with shots of local Hasidim.
- A Psalm for Moshe; short
feature by Robert Jacobson depicting love affair
between Hasidic man and non-Orthodox Jewish
woman.
- The Quarrel, 90 minutes,
1992; feature film about a reunion between two
Holocaust survivors, a Hasid and a secular
Yiddish writer.
- Memoirs of a River, 148
minutes, 1989; Hungarian feature by Judit Elek
about Jewish loggers accused in a ritual murder
case.
- Volvo City, 1991; British
Channel 4 film which reinforces stereotyped
images of Hasidim by taking a
"humorous" approach to its subject.
- Image Before My Eyes, 90
minutes, 1980; YIVO Institute documentary on
Jewish life in Poland before World War II which
focuses on secular Jews.
- In Her Own Time, 58
minutes, 1985; documentary by anthropologist
Barbara Myerhoff about Orthodox Jews of Los
Angeles.
- BBC series on fundamentalism with
episodes on Islam, Gush Emunim, and Baptism.
- The Amish: Not To Be Modern;
(Director of Photography, Oren Rudavsky).
- Born Again ; documentary by
Jim Ault and Michael Camerini.
- Bronx Baptism ; documentary
by DeeDee Haleck.
- Holy Ghost People ;
documentary by Peter Adair about Christian snake
handling sects.
- Powerhouse of God;
documentary by Barry Dorfeld, Tom Rankin, and
Jeff Titon.
- The Shakers ; documentary
by Ken Burns.
POPULAR CULTURE - HASIDIM ON
TELEVISION AND IN FILM
- Cagney and Lacey: 1981
pilot episode featuring the impersonation of a
Bobower Hasid by a war criminal.
- Days and Nights of Molly Dodd:
1986 episode entitled "Here's Why Good Guys
Sometimes Wear Black," depicting a love
affair between Dodd and a Hasidic man.
- The Simpsons: Episode
entitled "Like Father, Like Clown,"
about Bart and Lisa's attempts to reunite a clown
with his Hasidic rebbe father.
- Barney Miller: 1981 episode
entitled "The Riot," featuring a riot
by Hasidim in lower Manhattan.
- The Bill Cosby Show:
episode from an earlier version of the Cosby Show
entitled "The Saturday Game," in which
a Hasidic boy joins a ball team coached by Cosby.
- Fiddler on the Roof: 1971
feature film based on Sholom Aleichem's tales of
Jewish and Hasidic life in eastern Europe.
- The Chosen: 1978 feature
film based on Chaim Potok's novel about Orthodox
and Hasidic Jews.
- Annie Hall: Woody Allen
comedy which includes a scene in which Woody is
transformed into a Hasidic Jew.
- Austeria: Polish feature
film about Hasidic life in Galicia during World
War I.
- A Stranger Among Us: 1992
feature film directed by Sidney Lumet about a
female detective with an undercover assignment in
a Hasidic neighborhood.
- A Price Above Rubies: 1998
feature film directed by Yakim Boaz about an
Hasidic woman who leaves the fold.
YIDDISH FILMS
- East West: 1925 silent film
produced in Vienna about a visit of an American
flapper to a Hasidic family in Poland.
- Der Dybbuk: 1937 Yiddish film
produced in Poland based on Hasidic legends.
ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE
- Amateur films of Krakow and
Kolbuszowa in southeastern Poland, showing
Hasidic Jews engaging in everyday activities in
the 1920s-30s. (YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research)
- Amateur films of Warsaw in the
1930s showing Jews entering the non-Orthodox
Tlomackie Synagogue (YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research)
- Newsreel travelogues of Jewish
life in Krakow and Lwow made in the late 1930s
(National Center for Jewish Film)
- Footage of rural Hasidic Jews in
the Carpathians shot by Roman Vishniac in the
1930s (National Center for Jewish Film)
- Silent newsreel of an Agudath
Israel conference in Vienna in 1920 featuring
prominent Hasidic personalities (University of
South Carolina Newsfilm Library)
- Newsreel of rebbes visiting
Jerusalem in 1930s (Steven Spielberg Film
Archives)
- Newsreel outtakes of the wedding
of the Munkacs Rebbe's daughter in the
Carpathians in 1933, including scenes of everyday
Hasidic life (National Archives)
- March of Time newsreel of a visit
by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to New York in 1925
(National Archives)
- Amateur films of secular Jews
dancing in the Bronx in the 1930s (YIVO Institute
for Jewish Research)
- Holocaust footage depicting
persecution of the Jews and liberation of the
concentration camps (National Archives and other
sources)
- Joint Distribution Committee
public relations films on Jewish life in the
displaced persons camps after World War II (YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research)
- Newsreels of Jewish immigrants
arriving in the United States in the 1940s (CBS
News Archives, Sherman Grinberg Film Library,
National Archives)
- Newsreel of mass naturalization
ceremony in Ebbets Field in Brooklyn in 1954
showing Hasidim among the new citizens (Hearst
Movietonews)
- Newsfilm of politicians visiting
Hasidic neighborhoods from the 1950s-90s (CBS
News Archive and Sherman Grinberg Film Library)
- Newsfilm of preparations for
Passover in Hasidic neighborhoods in Brooklyn in
the early 1960s (CBS News Archive and Sherman
Grinberg Film Library)
- Amateur footage of the upsharing
(boy's ritual first haircut) of the Munkacs
Rebbe's son in Boro Park in 1963 (Private
collection)
- Videotapes of purim plays and
weddings recently produced by the Bobover,
Munkacs, and Lubavitcher Hasidim
- Promotional videotapes about
Chabad Hasidism recently produced by the
Lubavitcher Hasidim
- Network news and amateur videotape
of recent huge Hasidic weddings of the children
of various rebbes (CBS News Archive and private
collections)
- National and local network news
videotape of Crown Heights riots in 1991 (Network
news archives)
STILL PHOTOGRAPHS & ARTWORK
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