How did a Sundance filmmaker shoot a scripted movie in the insulated world of New Yorks Hasidim?
January 18, 207
By Steven Zeitchik
The secular filmmaker Joshua Weinstein stood on a helter-skelter corner in this ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood next to shops selling conservative fashions and Internet-disabled smartphones, and pondered his recent guerrilla shoot.
“The strangest casting moment, let me think about that,” the director said, tilting back his head. “It might be all the times I sat through an hour of evening prayers because I happened to be talking to a potential actor and they needed a 10th man for a minyan [a prayer quorum]. Or maybe it was when I accompanied the rabbi to the mikveh [Jewish ritual bath].”
He paused thoughtfully. “It’s hard enough to cast your independent film when you’re not submerged without clothes in steamy waters.”
Weinstein experienced a series of colorful moments to craft the low-key authenticity of “Menashe,” his heartfelt gem of a scripted drama that will premiere Monday at the Sundance Film Festival in the upstart Next section. At a time when television series such as “Breaking Amish” aim to shed light on cloistered religious communities, “Menashe” harbors similar goals in a fresh context: It seeks to get behind the veil of New York’s Hasidim, people generally depicted in pop culture as enigmatic props, when they’re even seen at all.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-mn-sundance-menashe-20170111-story.html