The joys of independent documentary filmmaking

When I was in college at New York University I met a woman studying to be a rabbi at Hebrew Union College, which was around the block from where I lived. I had never thought about women rabbis, probably because they didn't exist when I was growing up in Miami, Florida in the '60s and '70s.

After that introduction, I was intrigued. What did this mean -- women rabbis, women as religious leaders? Does this change how we feel about God and spirituality? Will little girls grow up with religious imagery other than the old wise man with the long white beard?

I started this documentary while in film school and continued it's development once I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Everyone I met had a story to tell me about a woman rabbi - the daughter of a friend of a friend's or the chaplain they met while visiting someone in the hospital. I interviewed over fifty women rabbis until I found the six that I chose to focus on.

The plan was to edit the rough cut at KQED (in-kind donation), raise more money for the final cut, and then start graduate school. Unfortunately, the donations dried up, I went to school and was caught up with producing educational multimedia and making a decent living.

Over the past several years technology has changed and a final cut is much more accessible and affordable. It's been refreshing to work with this footage with a maturity and renewed sense of importance. I'm anxious to share these women's stories with others.