Event

Menashe - 4/7 at 5:35pm

Menashe

Run Time: 85 minutes

Screening Times:

Friday, April 7 at 5:35pm

Wednesday, April 12 at 7:30pm

Directed by: Joshua Z Weinstein

Synopsis: Deep in the heart of New Yorks ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, Menashe, a kind, hapless grocery store clerk, struggles to make ends meet and responsibly parent his young son, Rieven, following his wife Leahs death. Tradition prohibits Menashe from raising his son alone, so Rievens strict uncle adopts him, leaving Menashe heartbroken. Meanwhile, though Menashe seems to bungle every challenge in his path, his rabbi grants him one special week with Rieven before Leahs memorial. Its his chance to prove himself a suitable man of faith and fatherhood, and restore respect among his doubters.

Performed entirely in Yiddish, the colloquial language of the Hasidic community, Menashe uses intimate, handheld camerawork to drop us inside and humanize a hermetically sealed world of black-hatted, working-class men debating in crowded shuls or seeking counsel in the rabbis library. And yet Menashe is in many ways an outsider in this tight-knit circle, as he bucks convention and ruffles feathers to stay true to himself.