Punk Jews

The film opens with Yishai Romanoff, lead singer of the Hasidic punk band Moshiach Oi!, standing on a rooftop saying, "Here's how you bring light into the world. You get up in the morning, and you scream, 'GOD!'", which he proceeds to demonstrate.

The film covers several unconventional Jewish artists, activists, and groups. Subjects include:

• Kal Holczler, the founder of Voices for Dignity, addressing child sexual abuse in Hasidic communities, of which he was a victim.
• Cholent, a weekly gathering of Jews from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds.
• "Amazing Amy" Harlib a.k.a. the Yoga Yenta, an elderly Jewish contortionist and performance artist.
• Rapper Yitz Jordan ("Y-Love") and blogger Shais Rishon ("Ma Nishtana"), addressing the prejudice experienced by African-American Jews in the Orthodox community.
• The Sukkos Mob, a group of Yiddish theatre revivalists and street performers

Mann and Kleinman conceived of Punk Jews after being invited to a Cholent gathering at the Millinery Center Synagogue and subsequently becoming regulars. It was there that they were introduced to Jewish counterculture and met many of the film's subjects, as well as co-producer Saul Sudin.{{cite web|author1=Leland, John|title=The Orthodox Fringe|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/nyregion/moshiach-oi-merges-orthodox-judaism-and-punk-rock.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|website=The New York Times|accessdate=30 September 2015|date=Mar 9, 2012}}

The film was funded via Kickstarter, earning $10,721 in donations, and was distributed by Adon Olam Productions and the National Center for Jewish Film.

Punk Jews premiered at the Manhattan Jewish Community Center on December 11, 2012.{{cite web|author1=Robinson, George|title=A Lens On Alt-Jews|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/film/lens-alt-jews|website=The Jewish Week|accessdate=30 September 2015|date=Dec 4, 2012}} It subsequently premiered in Poland on April 25, 2013, at the Jewish Motifs International Film Festival.

The film has received mixed reviews, many praising its unique subject matter while critiquing its uneven tone and lack of cohesion. George Robinson of The Jewish Week called the film "competently crafted" and "suggestive in the best sense", but admitted that it "feels rather precipitous and definitely unfinished", as well as "a bit superficial". Ezra Glinter of The Forward called the film's central idea of a unified Jewish counterculture "fanciful at best", saying "While many of these subjects are interesting separately, and a few might be worthy of full-length documentaries of their own, they don’t cohere as a single film."{{cite web|author1=Glinter, Ezra|title=I Think I've Been Sedated|url=http://forward.com/culture/167593/i-think-ive-been-sedated/|website=The Forward|accessdate=30 September 2015|date=Dec 17, 2012}}

• Hasidic hipsters
• 93Queen (2018)

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20150415203630/http://www.punkjews.com/}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c29lJ3U_A0 Punk Jews] on YouTube
• [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2172029/?ref_=ttrel_rel_tt Punk Jews] on IMDb

{{Films about Orthodox and Hasidic Jews}}

Category:Documentary films about Jews and Judaism

*

Category:2012 films

Category:American documentary films

Category:Documentary films about Jews and Judaism in the United States

Category:Documentary films about punk music and musicians

Category:Jews and Judaism in New York City

Category:Orthodox Jews and Judaism in New York City

Category:Films about Orthodox and Hasidic Jews

Category:2010s English-language films

Category:2010s American films

Category:English-language documentary films