Confused? See here.

In those five minutes, Shira stole the show.  She completed killed it. A guy in one of the front rows was laughing so hard that he literally fell off his seat.

On my way out of the theater, I passed Shira, who was holding a bouquet of flowers. I was totally star-struck. “You were awesome,” I gushed.

Later I learned that Shira was a good friend of the musician I was dating at the time.  A few weeks later I saw Shira at one of his shows, and we bonded over our shared background. We’ve been close friends ever since.

Shira has been helping Nadja and I with Unorthodox for many months now, and we’ve really valued her feedback, which she has given unconditionally and at all hours of the night.  In December we officially invited Shira on board as Associate Producer–and lucky for us, she accepted!

To help you get to know Shira and (her story) a bit better, I’ve asked her to answer these ten questions. You can also read her bio on the filmmakers page.

1. Tell our readers a bit about your religious background — you’ve got an interesting story!

I grew up in Baltimore in a religious family and an even more religious community. I went to Bais Yaakov for all but two years of my lower, middle and high school education. I guess my family was considered Modern Orthodox: my sister and I had to wear skirts, but we had a television, went to the movies, and my father went to work every day.  My extended family is significantly more religious.  Their skirts are much longer (and are always worn with tights, even in the summer) and the men wear black hats  every day of the week. They definitely don’t watch television.

2. What made you decide to question your beliefs/leave the Orthodox community?

I don’t remember a moment when I chose to stop believing and observing so many of the things I’d grown up with. I think the most significant shift happened when I was in college, where I made connections with many people who weren’t Jewish—or if they were, hadn’t grow up in religious homes. They were so warm, welcoming, accepting, and curious… and religion, or “religious observance” was never part of the conversation. It was very liberating.

College took me away from all the things I’d been surrounded by for so long, and it was literally like a new world appeared to me. I tapped into a part of my brain that realized there was a whole world of choices available to me that I never knew existed.

Deciding not to keep shabbat, for example, never felt like a choice. It was actually something that felt very natural to me. It wasn’t a rebellion of any kind. I was finally finding myself, establishing a world of my own and in this new world, these “laws” weren’t relevant, and it felt comfortable. The only problem, or discomfort, was not wanting my parents to know. There was (and still is) a bit of fear and guilt.

3. Where are you at now, religiously?

The word religious means something very different to me now than it ever has before. Growing up, “being religious” meant being shomer shabbos [keeping the sabbath], keeping kosher, davening [praying], learning torah, etc., and there was never any discussion about faith, or spirituality, feeling connected to something larger than myself.  Throughout and after college, I lived a very secular lifestyle for many years. Since then, my personal journey has led me back to a place where I’m more religious now than I’ve ever been before. It sounds strange, but I feel more religious now being a less-observant Jew than I EVER felt being an observant Jew. I’m much more in touch with my Jewish spirit than ever before, and I’m able to have a relationship with God based on feelings and conscious thoughts, without thinking that what I wear, what I eat, who I date, and what I do on shabbat, is going to get in the way of this relationship.

My faith is everything to me. I have to believe in a higher power. Sometimes I call it God, sometimes I call it the universe, and sometimes I think it’s the same thing. It helps me, through better and worse times—having something to hold on to, something to believe in, something to just dump all the things I can’t make sense out of. So why would I choose to live without it? My faith is my connection to God, and through it I am happier, I feel safer, I feel more grateful and appreciative, and I feel kinder and more generous.

4. How did you get into acting? Is it something you were doing from a young age?

I always wanted to be an actress. I remember sitting in my bedroom in front of my mirror and crying or yelling silently about scenarios I would make up—reasons to be fighting with my mother, or a teacher, or mourning the loss of someone I loved. In retrospect, I think I had so many emotions that were just begging to be expressed but didn’t really have any appropriate outlets for them.

In college, I finally took some acting classes and eventually auditioned for an improv group. That’s where I got most of my stage experience in America– doing improv.

5. You’re an amazing improv performer. Can you give us some quick tips?

Stay present, and accept things as they are presented to you. The number one rule of improv is a concept called “yes, and…” where you always accept what is being offered, and always listen or react or respond to what is happening NOW. The moment you start to wonder “where is this going, how is this going to end, how can I make this funny” you’re screwed, and you’re screwing everyone else on stage with you. It’s an important lesson for life, too: when you start worrying about something that doesn’t even exist (like the future), you lose the chance in that very moment to take advantage of the infinite number of things you could be doing to advance, improve, or even change what’s happening NOW.

6. How come you decided to move to Israel?

I don’t have a “life long Zionistic dream finally realized” story. I was at a point and place in my life where I was committed to moving… anywhere. I had an opportunity to come and study in Israel (on someone else’s bill) and it seemed like the right opportunity at the right time. I moved in 2005, and I’ve been here ever since.

7. What’s the nicest thing someone has said about your massages?

Someone once told me that my touch felt like a blessing. That was pretty powerful.

8. Which character do you relate to the most in Unorthodox?

Each character has a unique journey. I’m impressed with how honest and articulate they were able to be at that age. At eighteen, I would have been more concerned with the cameras, with what I thought people wanted to hear, with what I thought would make for a more interesting story, and what would make me look cool or interesting. But these “kids” were real and honest with things that they were struggling with.

9. Which actresses do you look up to?

Juliette Lewis. There was something so captivating about her in Natural Born Killers. Tina Fey, too. She’s brilliant, funny and smart–which is an awesomely powerful and dangerous combination!

10. Distract us. Show us a cool youtube video you’ve seen recently.

I started beatboxing recently so I love this video from Nathan “Flutebox” Lee.  He’s pretty sexy, too.

The process of purchasing equipment–cameras, microphones, lights, cables, pre-amplifiers, headphones, mounts, stabilizers, tapes, booms–was daunting.  We were saved by a handful of filmmakers and advisors at MIT, where Anna and I were both studying, and by the staff at B&H in Manhattan.  Two of our mentors, Dan van Roekel and Joe Gibbons in the Visual Arts Program at MIT, steered us towards the best prosumer and professional equipment our budget would allow.  When we arrived at B&H in 2004, lists in-hand and determined, we wrangled a meeting with the director of the flagship Manhattan store (a bespeckled and bearded man who sat in a control pod suspended above the store floor) and received a small discount as a reward for our efforts.

The majority of Unorthodox was shot on a Canon GL2, which was the best we could afford with our limited funding in the initial stages of production.  Anna and I spent a considerable amount of time fretting over the Canon XL2, which at the time cost thousands more than the GL2, but decided in the end that our money was better spent on professional audio equipment.  In retrospect our decision was sound; our Sennheiser microphones have served us well and still record beautiful audio, while the Canon GL and XL series camcorders were quickly made obsolete by cheap prosumer HD cameras.

Should we have shelled out some of our own money, or more of our budget, for an early model HD camera?  I would have been pleased to shoot Unorthodox in blindingly clear HD, from an aesthetic perspective, but in the end documentary film is (for me) about narrative curiosity and intentionality.  Our fumbles and equipment foibles were necessary components of the filmmaking learning process, and we have hopefully managed to create an engaging, beautiful story despite them.

Here’s a breakdown of our upcoming expenses.

We chose 16K after weeks of deliberation and talks with friends, filmmakers and producers.  An experienced feature documentary editor costs approximately $2,000-$2,5000 a week, and we need to work with someone for 2-3 months. Therefore, 16K is the absolute minimum we need to squeeze by and get to the next stage of the process.

But the editor does not work solo: I will need to work closely with him/her during the editing process. I am a freelance writer (making shekels!) and I can’t just stop working for several months. So, Nadja and I decided that if we hit our goal, we would combine our savings and take out loans to cover my expenses for this time.

There are many other costs that we’re going to encounter as we work towards completion: licensing fees (e.g., we’d like to use 20 seconds of a television newscast), music (either paying a composer or paying licensing fees to use existing tracks), and color correction and audio mix (needed for a professional release). Then there’s the not-so-glamorous stuff, like hefty legal and accounting fees, which quickly add up.  And once we’re done with all that, we need to make sure that people actually see the movie—so we’ll need to shell out for publicity, marketing and festival submission fees.

But in the meantime, we need all the help we can get—which is why we are still actively fundraising.

There are eight (and a half) days left!

Oh, and here’s a screenshot of the video we’ll be posting tomorrow, from Chaim, one of the stars of the film!

Here’s how it went down: we started off the morning at 93%.  In the evening (Tel Aviv time) we reached 95% and decided to push hard.  Nadja, Shira and I were on a joint Skype call, listening to cheesy house music and getting pumped. For the next three hours, we posted updates on Facebook and Twitter, sent emails, and texted/called friends. We inched towards our goal, and three hours later, a generous contribution by David Mosberg put us over the top!

“wow….  I am blown away!”

“wow.”

“SUPPORT this cinematic quest of another generation in search for the autonomy of conscience”

“super interesting documentary/ work-in-progress… esp for those who went to Jewish day school and know the story all too well…”

“I had goosebumps watching it. It brought ALOT of old emotion up…. It looks like a really great expression of the orthodox reality – all sides of it”

“you guys will be interested in this movie for VERY different reasons – I just met the person behind it and I am sure you we be very interested in the final product. Take a look, support it if you will, and pass this on to your various comunites asking for thier support. After all, at the end of the day, it is up to us to help the children of tomorow.”

“Friends, Rabbis, countrymen, teachers, parents, etc…. Please take a few minutes to look at this trailer. My very good friend Anna Wexler is one of the directors and I think it’s going to be a great film. (I’ve seen the footage). You can help make it happen. Watch and learn how!”

“ahh aweseom!”

“Help make history! Check out the trailer. If you can please donate and help make this important documentary happen!”

“This is something i’ve been involved with since i graduated high school. it has the potential to be very informative, inspiring, and successful. take a look and support it in whatever way you can! and join the facebook group!”

“I’m really proud to call this film’s director a friend. After seven long years, its almost done! The finished product will be brilliant, without a doubt, but the filmmakers need your help…”

“A feature film about leaving the (Modern) Orthodox world. This should be of major interest to many in the OTD community. The directors need your support in order to finish this project, so consider donating to their Kickstarter campaign. Also, help spread the word.”

“Looks fascinating.”

“Oh that year in israel…you guys on onto something for sure. Can you also find out why I gained 4000000000 lbs that year too??”

“Finally someone is making this film! The must also be stuf on this in the academic world, no?”

“Help these great filmmakers, including @annawexler, with a worthy cause: Unorthodox, a documentary about 3 frummy teems and how a year in israel changes them.”

“COOL”

“My friend, the tres formidable Anna Wexler. View a trailer from her provocative doco. Share some funds and help her finish it. You’ll be glad you did!”

“REally intersting!”

“This sounds like a very interesting project and one that really should get funded to the max. So please check it out and make even a tiny contribution… Thanks.”

“Check out this great trailer and help support the completion of the film.”

“must support….”

“two of my best friends are making this documentary. i’ve seen bits of it and it’s amazing, but they need a little more cash to finish it. they are pretty close to their goal, but time is running out, so do it!”

“For $16,000, Anna will grow her dreads back.”

“The documentary sounds really interesting. I hope you can raise the money you need b/c I would really love to see it. Be well!! you rock!

“amazing! I really hope you make it all the way!”

“Hey I just saw the preview and it looks great so far, kol hakavod!”

“So excited, I’ve been waiting all these years to see the documentary! I wish I could contribute more but I am just a poor social worker:(“

“Love what ur doin Anna. This is the kinda stuff that this generation can relate to. Keep tellin the story. B’hatzlacha”

“Please support this outstanding documentary film by my incredibly talented friends Anna Wexler & Nadja Oertelt.”

“Help Anna Wexler finish her film about teens who are disaffected by Orthodoxy and how they deal with it.”

“this is sooo exciting! congrats on making it this far. it seems really important piece of work.”

“great! i hope u guys get your funding, i am really excited to see the film!”

“This looks awesome…”

“I backed because I want to see the whole thing. Looks really good!”

“So excited for your movie…”

Feel free to add additional status updates in the comments below!

We were—because this Kickstarter campaign meant sending our “baby” into the public eye for the first time. And we had no idea what to expect. We estimated that we’d be able to raise several thousand dollars from friends and family, but we had no clue how we’d hit our goal of a whopping $16,000.

And that was pretty scary.

Because when a Kickstarter campaign is over, the project page doesn’t disappear—it remains online, stamped with one of two proclamations: Funding Unsuccessful or Funding Successful.  Failure to reach our goal meant a well-documented embarrassment forever attached to our project’s name.

So you can imagine our trepidation when hit the “launch” button late Monday night. Initially we had planned to send the link just to the film’s stars and a few friends, and to wait until Tuesday morning, December 13, for the full launch. But within minutes the Kickstarter link had made its way onto Facebook, and after a frantic ten-minute deliberation (“should we do it? should we just go all out now?”) we officially launched the Kickstarter campaign for Unorthodox.

These past two weeks have been a powerful emotional experience for both of us. For most of this seven-year journey we’ve been toiling away on our own, spending vast amounts of time and nearly all of our own money on this ambitious project.  Aside from a few smaller grants and comments such as “wow, sounds interesting, keep me updated,” we have not received the major financial backing or outpouring of support needed to complete the film.

We could have—and maybe should have—quit years ago.  There have been times when we’ve been so frustrated that we’ve almost given up. But we truly believed in the power of this story and in the importance of making this film.  And so we trudged onward, despite rejection after rejection after rejection.  We learned that no matter how powerful your story or how passionate you are, it is damn near impossible to break into the world of independent documentary film—especially as first-time filmmakers.

The Kickstarter campaign has changed everything. For the first time in the entire seven-year history of the film, we have received a public validation of our efforts. You have sent us hundreds of messages, emails, and comments; you have posted and tweeted; you have cared enough to back the project with your hard-earned money.  You have told us that this film is important, that we have a great story, and that you will provide us with support to help us complete the project.

It has all been incredibly moving.

We believe that Kickstarter represents a major paradigm shift in the way films are made. No longer are films only released to audiences as a finished product for consumption—Kickstarter has allowed us to be part of a new wave of filmmakers who communicate with their audience before the film is finished.  Kickstarter is doing what blogging did for writers and myspace did for musicians—providing those who don’t have industry connections with an opportunity to break in.

We are excited to be part of this new filmmaking paradigm and are unbelievably grateful for your support.

The journey of making Unorthodox should be a film in its own right.  It’s not over yet. And you—everyone who has backed the film and sent us messages of encouragement—are very much part of this ongoing story.

Thanks again, and please continue to spread the word,

Anna and Nadja