On the third of October, the Marlene Meyerson JCC of Manhattan hummed with contentment as Havurah launched its first ever Short Short Film Festival. A vibrant collective of college-aged Jewish creatives, Havurah is dedicated to the notion of reconnecting contemporary Jewish life with the tradition of artistic and spiritual expression.
Five new Jewish short films were presented over the course of the evening (one, still unreleased), ranging from poignant renderings of love and loss of faith to high energy concepts toying with the forms of Judaism and film alike.
I Saw Mommy Kiss the Baal Shem Tov by Lya Finston
Like a dark-sided, Yiddishkeit Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, this wholesome but haunting clay-motion kicked off the night with a chorus of chuckles from the audience. Accompanied with a lilting, undeniably danceable score, I Saw Mommy… conjured old world Judaica in a contemporary form that was frankly entrancing.
Swallow by Anne Vetter
A slow burn, complexly both sensual and familial, Swallow was an immersive look into the complexities of tradition, womanhood, and sexual definition. Poignantly acted and meticulously shot, the longer feature grasped handily what it feels like to age out of expectation, and the emotional impact of no longer wanting to follow the rules.
TANK 52 by Shmuel Lowenstein
A once-in-a-lifetime glance into the Lubavitcher 120 parade through the angles and eyes of their youngest proselytizers. The surreal, beautiful imagery and dreamlike style was occasionally lost on the audience, who chuckled through the moments of intimacy provided by the documentarian. But the gravity of the film and the diverse New York it described rang true.
Modern Love by Itamar Gross
In an almost slapstick conclusion, Modern Love was an emoji riddled Shakespeare of love amongst Israeli teenagers. The breakneck pace, morbid humor, and wickedly delivered lines poured blue-light into the sincerity of digital relationships, death, and societal pressure to love.
Punctuated by murmurs of support for the diverse line-up, accessible prices (one dollar per film!), and multi-denominational crowd, the evening was a resounding success for the already prolific Havurah.
Hopefully more bite sized evenings are to come, in the meantime, make sure to keep up to date with the artist kehillah.
Image: Modern Love (Ahava Modernit) by Itamar Gross
