Tuesday, July 25, 2017

"The Womens' Balcony" Adds Delightful Comedy to Israel Film Festivals


The Women's Balcony (Hebrew title: Yismach Chatani) a comedy from Israel, has been playing to sellout audiences at Jewish Film Festivals from Maine to California. We saw it on Sunday night at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal, New Jersey. We recommend it highly. Here is a synopsis:
Women fight for their rights in unexpected ways in this warm and funny film. When the women’s balcony in an Orthodox synagogue collapses, leaving the rabbi’s wife in a coma and the rabbi in shock, the congregation falls into crisis.
Then young rabbi David arrives and they think they’ve found a savior. But when he starts pushing fundamentalist ways – suggesting the women’s immodesty might have caused the accident – a rift emerges between the sexes!
This intimate portrait of a community trying to maintain its traditions while resisting extremism, set to a lively soundtrack amid the evocative back alleys of old Jerusalem, is sure to leave you smiling.
The film, in Hebrew with English subtitles, was made in the Bukharian quarter (Shechunat Habucharim in Hebrew) a neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem. 

This trailer will give you a taste of the film, but we urge you to find it and see it for a delicious evening of  Jewish humor at its best. It's playing now at the Lincoln Center Cinema in New York City and other selected theaters. Be sure to watch for it at a theater or at a Jewish/Israel Film Festival near you.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

1 comment:

  1. the movie is quite good... however it shows the ugly side of the ultra orthodox Judaism if taken to extremes. Once Jews of all denominations lived in harmony in Jerusalem... Everyone respected one another. Today it is all too political. Worth seeing the film.

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