The Emergence of Israeli Orthodox Women Filmmakers

Israeli Orthodox Jewish women are, for the first time, using film to speak and reflect in a public voice upon various challenges and aspects of their lives that were previously taboo. This article, which draws upon in-depth interviews with twenty-six Orthodox Jewish women filmmakers, gives the reader a sense of the upheaval that these filmmakers are already creating and will continue to create both within the Orthodox Jewish world and within Israeli society. Many of the Orthodox Jewish women's films focus on subjects that are voice-less in their community, and topics concerning women's sexuality are especially noteworthy here. Each in her own way, the filmmakers discussed at length in this article proclaim agency and ask questions concerning the traditionally silenced topic of sexuality. These women are devoted not to religion's status quo but to Judaism and to their Jewish community. The filmmakers know about the oppression of women in Orthodox Judaism, and they want change. They tend not to view their filmmaking as their inner voice versus their community's voice—they embrace both and build a home for both.