''Keep Not Silent'' (,
translit. Et Sheaava Nafshi) is a 2004 Israeli
documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed and produced by Ilil Alexander about three
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
s in Jerusalem. Ilil had just graduated from Tel-Aviv University Film School.
It opened the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in 2004.
It won the Israeli Academy award for Best Documentary Film 2004
and won numerous international awards in film festivals in Europe, North America, and the Far East, including best director, best documentary, audience awards, and others such as the DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival Award
and the Gerhald-Klein-Publikums-Preis of the 11th Jewish Film Festival of Berlin and Potsdam.
Lesbianism is generally viewed as forbidden in
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...
(see
Homosexuality and Judaism
The subject of homosexuality and Judaism dates back to the Torah. The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) is traditionally regarded as classifying sexual intercourse between males as a (something abhorred or detested) that could be subject to capital p ...
). In Jerusalem, a number of Orthodox Jewish lesbians formed a group called OrthoDykes for mutual support and to learn the relevant issues in Jewish law. The film describes lives of three of them. One is Yudit, single and trying to have her
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...
follow the Orthodox rules. Another is Miriam-Ester (pseudonym), who is married to a man and has ten children. She is suppressing her lesbian feelings in order to keep her marriage for religious reasons. Ruth, another married lesbian, keeps her marriage for the same reason, while her husband agrees to her seeing her lover regularly.
See also
* ''
Trembling Before G-d'' (2001)
* ''
Say Amen'' (2005) a documentary about a gay man coming out to his Orthodox family
* ''
And Thou Shalt Love
''And Thou Shalt Love'' (, Transliteration, translit. ''V'ahavta'') is an Israeli short film. It was directed by Chaim Elbaum as part of his studies at the Ma'aleh School of Television, Film and the Arts, Ma'aleh religious film school. The ...
'' (2008), an Israeli
short film
A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
that examines the difficulties of being both an Orthodox Jew and
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
* ''
Paper Dolls (film)''
References
External links
*
2004 films
2004 documentary films
Documentary films about LGBTQ and Judaism
Documentary films about lesbians
Israeli documentary films
Israeli LGBTQ-related films
LGBTQ and Orthodox Judaism
Films set in Jerusalem
Films about Orthodox and Hasidic Jews
2004 LGBTQ-related films
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