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Purity
A film by Anat Zuria, Produced by Amit Breuer
Israel, 2002, 63 minutes, Color, VHS/DVD, Subtitled
Order No. W03817
Israeli filmmaker Anat Zuria examines the Tharat Hamishpaha (family purity), the ancient laws and rituals shaping women’s lives and sexuality within Jewish Orthodoxy. Giving new insight into a guarded religious community, Zuria presents her own experiences adhering to Orthodox practices, as well as those of her friends Natalie, Katie and Shira. At the heart of their stories is the "nidda” - a ten to twelve day period restricting women from touching or engaging in sexual intimacy with their husbands, which culminates with a trip to the “mikve” (cleansing baths). Each woman introduces this practice through very different perspectives - one sadly leaves her marriage in protest, one attempts to work within the tradition despite the emotional and physical stress it causes, while another proudly teaches the laws to her daughter. Beautifully incorporating lyrical and meditative images with interviews, "Purity" presents the hidden struggle of religious women to maintain their cultural traditions and individual needs within the framework of strict, masculine religious law.



AWARDS, FESTIVALS, & SCREENINGS


Fipa - Golden FiPA Award in Creative Documentary
Jerusalem Int'l F F - Mayor Award for Best Doc
One World Int'l Human Rights F - Best Director

  • Montreal World International Film Festival
  • Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival
  • Medimed International Film Festival
  • San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
  • Boston Jewish Film Festival
  • Washington Jewish Film Festival
  • Vancouver Jewish Film Festival
  • Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival
  • Munich Dok Fest at the Freiburger Forum, Germany
  • Budapest MediaWave Festival
  • The Film Society of Lincoln Center

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QUOTES

    “The wonderful camera work gives a special touch to the tough subject.”
    Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival

    "Anat Zuria's powerful film... is a first-hand exploration of the ancient laws and rituals governing a Jewish woman's sexuality; an exploration that proves painful, intimate and ultimately uplifting."
    Washington DC Jewish Film Festival

    "... An engaging, thoughtful, and provocative documentary. Because it's made by an Orthodox Jewish woman it offers a point of view not usually seen on film."
    Sara L. Rubin
    Executive Director, Boston Jewish Film Festival

    "A mature and courageous approach to its subject. The filmmaker's ability to take an inner voice and create an objective outsider's perspective about the problems of religious women is surprising and authentic."
    Jerusalem Film Festival Jury

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    Purity is included in the following Special Collections.
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FILMS ON THE MID-EAST Interested in gaining more insight and background on the current conflict in the Middle East? Check out WMM’s powerful documentaries made by and about women in that region, including MY LAND ZION and WOMEN IN STRUGGLE. More details.



© Women Make Movies, 2005
Women Make Movies is a multicultural, multiracial, non-profit media arts organization which facilitiates the production, promotion, distribution, and exhibition of independent films and videotapes by and about women. contact us