Punk Jews pushes buttons. Whether its a critique on racism, feminism, offending someone’s religious values… after we screen the film there are usually some intense feelings brought up in the question and answer period afterwards and we like that. We LOVE that. The film is a journey for us as it is for the [...]]]>

Punk Jews pushes buttons. Whether its a critique on racism, feminism, offending someone’s religious values… after we screen the film there are usually some intense feelings brought up in the question and answer period afterwards and we like that. We LOVE that. The film is a journey for us as it is for the viewer… we sure don’t have the answers, or actually I don’t claim to have any answers, but what you see in the film is an authentic representation of our thoughts, and feelings, and the adventure that Evan and I went on. And that journey freaks people out. That’s good and fine.

One critique that seems to stay out of our conversations with people but seems to be online is that ‘Punk Jews’ isn’t really a movement, and that we “…made it up.” As Ezra Glinter wrote in his cynical drivel, more fitted more for a college essay than a film review, that was published in the Jewish Forward.

Saying we just made up this movement is completely fucked, but asking the question whether or not it is one is valid. It’s a question we have thought about since the beginning of the project, and one that doesn’t have a clear answer. After the KONY 2012 debacle calling anything a movement seems contrived and stained. But what is going on in the underbelly of the Jewish world in New York? Is it a movement? Is it a cult? Is it an anti-movement? What the hell is actually going on and what is it that bridges our stories in Punk Jews?

When Evan and I first discussed following folks from the cholent parties we first sat down with Levi Okunov, who at the time was a huge personality at the gatherings. Levi is a New York based fashion designer known for incorporating sacred Hebrew symbols and repurposing materials from prayer shawls and fabrics that once dressed torahs into his fashion pieces covering the bodies of young half naked models. When we began shooting Punk Jews, Levi was one of our central characters, but over the years he dropped out of the cholent scene, so he didn’t make it into our theatrical cut of Punk Jews, but he was certainly was one our guides who introduced us to the wild ex-Orthodox world of New York City.

Over indian food in Curry Hill, I asked Levi “So is this a movement?” His reply was “Is cholent a cult? No… but is it a movement? You are the filmmakers, this is up to you to decide.” And being outsiders, and after hanging out with Y-Love and meeting Diwon, after getting wasted at cholent and crawling to the subway at 4am, it certainly seemed like a movement to us. There was, and is, so much vibrancy in the Cholent community, and such a taste of rebellion that it reminded us very much of the DIY punk and hardcore scenes Evan I grew up in.

Was punk a movement in the 80’s? In retrospect, probably. Was 90’s hardcore? We thought so. Was DIY in the mid-90’s onward? Yes. We wanted to change the world one photocopied flyer at a time. I ran a website called DIYRevolution.com where people could post shows, tours, and merch, a decade before myspace. The whole point of the DIY movement was for people to create their own culture and to create an infrastructure for people to sidestep the corporate domination. We created, and are creating, a movement.

Y-Love @ The 6th Street Shul

When Evan and I were at Cholent there wasn’t one thing we could put our finger on, but the community, the electricity was so familiar to us. It felt like the DIY days of our adolescence. This community was sidestepping the religious institutions today as the punk rock bands did and do. And because of that, we called it a movement. The people in Punk Jews represent a community, creating a culture that is their own. They are doing so in the face of authority, and that’s what has inspired me all my life.

It’s easy to become a cynic in a corporate culture in which “movement,” “revolution,” and even “making a difference” are used to sell everything from cars to soap on every website, tv show, subway ad and billboard around you. But this is what Punk Jews is about… defying cynicism. We get emails everyday from people all over the world connecting with the idea of Punk Jews. People who are able to connect, heal, and have fun …and what whatever you want to label it or not, I can tell you there is a rumbling happening, and an amazing energy of people making culture their own, in a very inclusive and radical community.

There are no little red books. There are no armbands. There are no KONY posters. There is music. There is dancing. And there is liberation. And it’s growing. And according to the people we hear from every day it seems to be growing.

As Ezra says:

“As a journalist, it’s tempting to start analyzing a scene like this. Is it a trend? A movement? A radical overhaul of the institutional Judaism we once knew? I’m content to let community professionals worry about such questions.”

Thanks Ezra. Please do that. But not because we work in television. Let us say what it looks like to us as grown up punk rock kids who used to throw shows in our parents’ living rooms. Who never quite knew what to make of our Jewish heritage. And who are completely inspired by the new art, radical music, and amazing work of a new community coming in NYC, and the world.

If you don’t feel it, call it what you will.

-Zook Mann

When a filmmaker begins the journey of creating a film, the day you dream about [...]]]> We recently had our world premiere at the JCC Manhattan.  It was everything we could have hoped and more.  Two sold out screenings to awesome crowds, Great Q&A sessions with the artists in the film, even a cool after-party.

When a filmmaker begins the journey of creating a film, the day you dream about is the world premiere.  This is the day when you will have the opportunity to show all of your hard work and effort to an audience, who will hopefully find some inspiration in it.  Every laboring hour that you spend on the film, all the late nights, the exhaustion, you think of about the premiere and that’s what keeps you going.

After about five years of working on the project, we finally unleashed “Punk Jews.”  A film that tells the story that many of us can identify with, of finding empowerment around who we are as people and as artists.

Both screenings at 7pm and 9pm sold out.  Sorry to all the people who came out and were unable to buy a ticket at the door.  This was not only the first time the public was seeing the film but also the first time the people featured in the film were seeing it as well.  After the screenings, we had Q&A panels that included Shais Rison aka Manishtana, Jenny Romaine of the Sukkos Mob, The Amazing Amy, Shane Baker, Yishai Romanoff of Moshiach Oi, Gitty Berger, Yitzchak Schonfeld, and from the production team we had Evan Kleinman and Saul Sudin.

Besides the wild dialogue that ensued, what made the night unforgettable was the Amazing Amy ripping off her her coat to reveal her yoga costume and proceeded to bust out a few contortions for all to witness.

Following the second Q&A, we headed next door to a local spot to make some L’chaim’s in honor of a great night.  We were with a whole crew of people from the screening, some of which I was meeting for the first time.

A number of press stories came out about the film in Ynet (Hebrew) and Haaretz (Hebrew), The New Yorker, The Huffington Post as well as an appearance on the online TV show, Huff Post Live.

Originally, I thought the world premiere in NYC would bring about a feeling of conclusion to the past five years.  But I was 100% wrong.  NYC was just the beginning.  “Punk Jews” will be screening all over the world in 2013.  To find out about upcoming screenings go here.  If you are interested in setting up a screening of “Punk Jews” in your community contact Blair Sullivan at the National Center for Jewish Film at blairs@brandeis.edu.  In 2013, we will also be releasing a DVD with bonus scenes.

Here we go!