Kathryn Bernheimer

This film traces the history of a Yiddish anarchist newspaper publishing its final issue. The story is mostly told by the newspaper's now elderly, but decidedly unbowed, staff. This is the story of one of the largest radical movements among Jewish immigrant workers in the 19th and 20th centuries and the conditions that led them to band together. These elderly anarchists reflect on their lives spent fighting for a less centralized government, workers’ rights, and, above all, justice for all. In doing so, strong social bonds were formed while authorities, including managers, police and the government, put psychological and physical pressure on them.

He's hip, he's helpful and he's Hasidic. That's why Yisrael Lifschutz, whose advertising slogan is “Pay Us for Payos," is the go-to-guy for Hollywood movie-makers needing a link to New York's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. “HAG: The Story of the Hasidic Actors' Guild” (2008) is a serio-comic survey of Jewish visibility in cinema replete with archival "behind the scenes" footage, interviews, and staged scenes from films such as The Chosen, Stranger Among Us and Pi (which he also co-produced). Standing at the intersection of secular and Orthodox worlds, Lifschutz has won himself a slew of minor acting gigs from directors wanting a real Hasid to lend authenticity to a scene. He has also taught non-Jewish actors how to daven, and helped casting directors recruit Hasidic extras for synagogue, wedding and street scenes.