Producers Forum: Irit Reinheimer

Twenty years ago, ​​Michael Chameides and Irit Reinheimer traveled across the U.S. and interviewed over 50 Jews who identify as anarchists, leftists, radicals, communists, or socialists. They were looking for a Jewish culture that coincided with their values. Scribe Video Center and Jewish Currents present a 20th-anniversary screening of Young Jewish And Left, a 55-minute documentary that weaves interviews and experimental filmmaking to build a conversation about queer culture, Jewish Arab history, secular Yiddishkeit, anti-racist analysis, and religious/spiritual traditions into a multi-layered portrait of Leftist Jewish politics in 2003.

We revisit Young Jewish And Left with co-director Irit Reinheimer and two of its subjects, Ezra Berkley Nepon and Nava EtShalom. We look at the political and cultural moment in which it was made, what has shifted since its creation, and how this documentary holds particular important resonances in the present moment. The conversation will be moderated by Sol Brager, Director of Community Engagement at Jewish Currents.

Founded in 1946, Jewish Currents is a magazine committed to the rich tradition of thought, activism, and culture on the Jewish left and the left more broadly.

The event is co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace Philly and the Leeway Foundation.

Masks are requested to be worn except when eating or drinking and will be supplied at the door.

“Young Jewish and Left provides a beautiful cross-section of today’s visionary thinkers, activists, and artists. The film celebrates the profound legacy of resistance among Jews – and criticizes the reactionary elements in Jewish communities, from the occupation to assimilation, patriarchy, and homophobia. And it calls the Left to task for generally lacking an understanding of Jewish history or culture.”

—Dan Berger, Left Turn Magazine, 2006

Bios:

Irit Reinheimer is a filmmaker and writer based in Philadelphia. Her writing is influenced by her background in experimental filmmaking, where she has taken a sculptural approach to examining themes of loss and inheritance through short films constructed from her late father’s 8mm home movies, archival materials, and new footage. Irit’s films Young, Jewish and Left, How the Bridge Works, I Told Her This Was Home, and Of Origin have screened nationally and internationally. Her first book, Push the Water, was published by Thread Makes Blanket Press (2023). She is also a long-time member of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Ezra Berkley Nepon is the author of two books which document and analyze people’s history: Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue: A History of New Jewish Agenda (2012) which tells the story of a multi-issue, progressive Jewish organization which was active with over 45 chapters across the US in the 1980s, and Dazzle Camouflage: Spectacular Theatrical Strategies for Resistance and Resilience (2016) which looks at two examples of contemporary theater artists, generating analysis about their shared transformative theatrical strategies.

Based in Philadelphia, Ezra is Deputy Director of the Global Philanthropy Project, a network of funders and philanthropic advisors working to expand global philanthropic support to advance the human rights of LGBTI people in the Global South and East. Ezra is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, a longtime member of the JVP Philly Steering Committee, and was a founding member of the JVP Artist Council.

Nava EtShalom is a poet, editor, and educator in West Philly. In her writing and political work, she unpicks settler-colonialism from her position as a serial settler in the U.S. and Palestine.

EtShalom is the author of the poetry collections The Knives We Need (Carnegie Mellon 2021) and Fortunately (Button 2020). You can also find her work in The American Poetry Review, Boston Review, The Believer, LA Review of Books, and other journals. She’s received an MFA from the University of Michigan, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, the 92Y Discovery Prize, and two prizes from the Academy of American Poets.

Her next collection, VISITOR, is about disability, rest, rage, and the ceiling tiles at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Solomon J. Brager is a cartoonist and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. They are on the editorial collective of Pinko Magazine, the author of the graphic memoir Heavyweight (William Morrow, 2024) and the director of community engagement at Jewish Currents.

Masks are requested to be worn except when eating or drinking and will be supplied at the door.