Menashe

Menashe

There is nothing orthodox about him

Within Brooklyn’s ultra-orthodox Jewish community, a widower battles for custody of his son.

A tender drama performed entirely in Yiddish, the film intimately explores the nature of faith and the price of parenthood.

Director:

Writer:

Producer:


Cinematographer:

Joshua Z. Weinstein

Alex Lipschultz, Musa Syeed, Joshua Z. Weinstein

Alex Lipschultz, Traci Carlson, Joshua Z. Weinstein, Yoni Brook, Daniel Finkelman

Yoni Brook, Joshua Z. Weinstein

Grading:

Year of production:

Length:

Gosia Grzyb CSI, SKF

2018

90 minutes

Festivals & awards

Sarasota Film Festival 2017
Won Terry Porter Visionary Award (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

National Board of Review 2017
Won NBR Award Top Ten Independent Films

Nashville Film Festival 2017
Won Lipscomb Ecumenical Prize (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Deauville Film Festival 2017
Won Jury Prize (Joshua Z. Weinstein)
Nominated Grand Special Prize (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Cinema Eye Honors Awards 2018
Nominated Heterodox Award (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Film Independent Spirit Awards 2018
Nominated Independent Spirit Award Best First Feature

Zurich Film Festival 2017
Nominated Best International Feature Film (Joshua Z Weinstein)

Sundance Film Festival 2017
Nominated Audience Award Best of Next! (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017
Nominated Best International Feature Film (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival 2017
Nominated Grand Prix International Competition (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Montclair Film Festival (MFF) 2017
Nominated Future/Now (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

North Texas Film Critics Association 2017
Nominated NTFCA Award Best Foreign Language Film

Dallas International Film Festival 2017
Nominated Grand Jury Prize Narrative Feature Competition (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Jerusalem Film Festival 2017
Nominated FIPRESCI Prize International First Film (Joshua Z. Weinstein)
Nominated The Lia Van Leer Award (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Cleveland International Film Festival 2017
Nominated Best American Independent Feature Film (Joshua Z. Weinstein)

Gotham Awards 2017
Nominated Audience Award
Nominated Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award

Menashe, a widower, lives and works within the Hasidic community of Borough Park, Brooklyn. Since his wife passed away a year before, he has been trying hard to regain custody of his nine-year-old son, Rieven.

But the rabbi (and all the community behind him) will not hear of it unless he re-marries, which Menashe does not want, his first marriage having been very unhappy. Father and son get on well together, but can Menashe take care of Rieven properly? Not really for all his goodwill as he holds down a low-paid job as a grocery clerk that consumes too much of his efforts and energy.

Always late, always in a hurry, he endeavors to improve himself though. But will his efforts be enough to convince the rabbi that he can be a good father without a wife at home? 

Written by Guy Bellinger

"A gentle human comedy"
The New York Times
"A fascinating glimpse into a sequestered society within New York city"
The Wrap
"Genius, a new way of looking at humanity"
The Huffington Post
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