ABOUT THE FILM

 2007 / 93 minutes / 1.78:1 / Color / Dolby Digital / USA / Unrated

Narrow Bridge is an independent narrative film produced by IzzyComm Motion Pictures. It is the first film of its kind to break the silence about the existence of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community and depict the effects of sexual abuse on survivors.

Synopsis

Daniel Schneider is a quiet, shy, 21-year-old philosophy major. A proud Orthodox Jew, he is well liked by professors and committed to his faith. He prays daily and observes the Jewish Sabbath. During a chance encounter, Rachel Goldstein, a fellow student in his Modern Philosophy class, takes an interest in him. The two start out as study buddies, but quickly fall in love with one another. Rachel is inspired by Daniel's devotion to Judaism and slowly becomes more religious herself. She notices that he is mysteriously reluctant to talk about his life before college and his hometown, where he has not visited for four years.

As his relationship with Rachel develops, Daniel opens up emotionally and finds himself uncovering long-repressed memories of how he was sexually abused by his rabbi when he was twelve years old. When he returns to his insulated hometown together with Rachel, neither of them feel welcome in Daniel's tight-knit community. His dark secret begins to distance the two of them. As Daniel refuses to confront his feelings, he watches his life as he knows it slowly unravel before his eyes. Soon he questions where he stands with his family, community, fiancé, and G-d. Narrow Bridge is an exploration of the power of love and faith amid trials, both human and divine.

Background

From Israel Moskovits, director:

Growing up as an Orthodox Jew, I had always wanted to tell a story on film about Orthodox life. Almost every depiction of Orthodox Jews I had ever watched on screen ranged from slightly to highly inaccurate. I wanted to make a film that Orthodox Jews themselves would be able to watch and feel was a realistic depiction of their way of life, a film that would celebrate their faith rather then look down its nose at it. A key challenge I’d faced was creating a story that I felt strongly about. In too many films, religious characters are portrayed as radical or wishful thinkers. Often in these stories, the protagonist is disenchanted with their faith, or their belief is depicted as ancient and oppressive.

            Contrastingly, I wanted to make a film about a character that loved being religious and for whom religion was a central and meaningful part of life, a character that was spiritual, yet highly intelligent and grounded. I was 21 years old and taking film classes at a local university. I had made some experimental short films with my friends, but nothing on the scale of a feature film.

One evening, Shana Carp, a close friend of mine, sent me a link to an article in The New York Times Magazine. It told of a middle-aged man who was suing his rabbi for allegations of sexual abuse that had occurred some 30 years earlier. In the article, there were detailed descriptions of the abuse; including the thoughts and feelings of the victim as it occurred.

Reading the article blew my mind and forever altered my perspective. As an Orthodox Jew, I was not aware that this problem existed in our communities. I had heard mutterings in the past, but nothing that could be called substantial. As I read the article, I could visualize the abuse taking place before my eyes. I felt for this man and his predicament while my mind was flooded with questions of why and how. I was motivated to find out more about this issue. It was also then that I decided that this would be the subject of my next film. I said to Shana, "This is the last kind of movie I'd want to make, but this has to be my next film." Narrow Bridge was born.

Research

I began discussing the film’s plot with Shana, and the two of us slowly worked at solidifying a cohesive general direction that the story would take. We began working out who the main character in the story was, there he had come from, and the circumstances leading up to the abuse. I did about three weeks of internet research on sexual abuse, reading testimonials of over 100 victims and even some abusers. The more I read, the stronger I felt an obligation to make the film and break the silence about a problem that has permeated the Orthodox Jewish community for years.

The things I read disgusted me and painted a picture of victims that were not seen, heard or believed. The communities were embarrassed of their problem and moved abusers from job to job, hoping to skirt the issue. This often led to aggressors having access to more children as their lists of victims grew longer.

I noticed that there were many themes common to the experiences of the survivors. These became the foundations of the main character in the film, Daniel Schneider. Sexual abuse does not occur in a vacuum. It is a crime of opportunity. The abuser is not the person lurking in the bushes, but rather the friend the victim trusts and confides in. As I conducted my research, I was asking and answering many questions: Who was Daniel Schneider? Where was he from? Why did his abuser pick him from among the other children? Why didn’t he ever tell anyone about the abuse?

I got in touch with many sexual abuse advocacy groups with whom I shared and discussed my developing script. Many were shocked that someone who had not been a survivor themselves could have written such a story. They enthusiastically supported my work, calling it brave and past due.

I knew that a film of this sort would not merely be a piece of entertainment, but something that had great potential to educate people and instigate change. Realizing that the Orthodox Jewish community would be an important part of my audience demographic, I would have to be careful to avoid anything in film that might alienate my viewers. During the writing process I avoided including any profanity, sexuality and even physical contact between the lead male and female protagonists. As the film was at heart a love story, eliminating any touching would be difficult. This was an interesting creative challenge and in the end, I felt that my task was accomplished without affecting the impact of the film’s message in any way.

Production

Narrow Bridge truly is a story of ex nihilo, something from nothing. I was in an Advanced Film Class at Northeastern Illinois University and for our final project we were to create a piece no longer than seven minutes using professional-grade film equipment provided by the school’s media department. Once I had received my assignment, I began to think about the film I wanted to make. Though I had started writing Narrow Bridge and the script was at 30 pages, I never thought it was a film I’d ever be able to see to fruition. The film’s costs and scale seemed prohibitive. I didn’t know of any actors capable of carrying the roles, there were far too many locations, and the project overall seemed far too ambitious for my resources.

As my final project deadline loomed ahead, “Narrow Bridge” kept reentering my mind. I never thought I could expect to complete the film even if I attempted it. I was working alone, with all of the production responsibilities placed squarely on my shoulders. This was how I had accomplished my previous film work up until that point, and I didn’t expect this project to be an exception.

As time dragged on, I realized that I was going to law school soon, this would be my last chance for a long time to make a film. I might never get a chance to work with professional-grade equipment again. If I was going to do it, it had to happen then. If the film was never finished, at least I’d have tried my best.

I figured that I would play the lead role of Daniel Schneider and filled the other roles by contacting friends that had worked on earlier films of mine. All of the principle actors had extensive prior theatre experience. A challenge was casting the female co-starring role of Rachel Goldstein, whose casting I began to worry about in the writing process. As the story progressed, she evolved into a very passionate character, with strong convictions and emotions. I needed someone who would be able to carry the emotional highs and lows that the character demanded and deliver not only a convincing, but a moving performance. At the time, I knew of no one.

I met Samantha Leshin at the Hillel on campus. After everyone I’d asked to play the role of Rachel turned it down, I began to think I wouldn’t be able to make the film after all. Casting the role of Rachel was a key part to having a film. I sent Samantha a quick e-mail as a last resort, expecting her to turn it down. To my surprise, she replied with enthusiasm. After explaining the role and project to her at greater length she accepted it. With all of the main parts cast I began rushing the film into production. I quickly finished the script and filming was underway. Shooting took place between March and June of 2007 with post production spanning to early August.

Since the film was originally envisioned as a medium-budget, two-hour film I began scaling down its more complicated elements. Role sizes were reduced, scenes were simplified and eliminated, and the overall scale of the project was made more modest.

All of the filmmaking responsibilities were put on my shoulders as I had no one who could assist me with the filmmaking process who’d be available at the times I needed them. As such, I served as director, writer, composer, editor, media contact, cameraperson, director of photography, Foley artist, sound mixer and just about every other production responsibility in the film.

Because crew people were an almost inexistent resource, actors filled much of the crew responsibilities. In fact, on most days, only the actors visible on screen were present during the shooting of a scene, filling in crew responsibilities when they weren’t needed in front of the camera. With some careful planning, the budget of the film remained close to zero. Since I was completing the film as part of a class project, I sent the receipts for blank film cassettes and a new hard drive to my scholarship as an education-related expense. $2.50 was spent on props for the film and only about $100 was spent otherwise, mostly on transportation costs, for the entire 93 minute film.

Because everything was shot on location and environments tended to be noisy, the audio as recorded was unsuitable for the final product. After filming had wrapped, the actors went into a makeshift studio in the basement of my house and rerecorded all their lines for the entire film.

Despite all of the overwhelmingly limited resources, working on the film was a pleasure. The atmosphere on the set was very lighthearted. Everyone involved was extremely dedicated and passionate about their work. Because a majority of the leading roles were played by college students, most people involved in the film balanced school, family responsibilities and jobs around making time for filming. In fact, I was taking a course overload in school at the time in addition to a part-time job and as such, I usually had no time to prepare before a shoot and used what I’d learned from shooting earlier films to guide me when we’d arrived on set.

Despite having no real help in the production elements of the film, I was blessed with a lot of external support. Aside from a strong fan base pushing me and the cast along, many people donated resources and favors as best they were able. Anytime I asked for permission to shoot at a location, people were more than kind. My school’s media department dutifully fulfilled my many requests for equipment rentals though I often had to reschedule as circumstances arose.

As my Advanced Film class came to an end, the project was only about 50% filmed. My professor generously allowed me to borrow camera equipment for more 20 days so I could finish the film. The usual loan period was one day. At this point I had graduated and was no longer a student at the school. My supervisor at work was also more than kind, allowing me to take off work liberally so I could film on days that my actors were available. If not for the two of their efforts, there would be no film.

When it came to recording dialogue, Michael Shoshani allowed me to borrow his costly mixing board free of charge, teaching me how to operate it so that I could hold recording sessions as my actors became available. Fees for his services normally ran at several hundred dollars an hour.

Artistic Approach

            Due to the subject matter I was dealing with and the extent to which it affected the characters in the story, I knew that I would have to direct Narrow Bridge in a unique way. As such, the film is told exclusively from the perspective of main character, Daniel. This was reinforced by using close shots, shaky POV angles, and a lack of any scenes where Daniel is not present. I used the work of director Darren Aronofsky for inspiration.

            Sexual abuse profoundly affects peoples lives, and thus on film would require a very serious filmmaking approach. I didn't want my audience thinking they were watching a movie, but rather, observing people in real life with the screen as a window separating them. The life we are shown on film often mimics reality closely, but is not very real.

            During the writing process, I made sure that the dialogue sounded natural. Often times I would write and rewrite a single line, asking myself, "What do real people say in this situation?"  This meant that some scenes would end without neat closure, or scenes would begin abruptly. No additional lighting was used in the film, I manipulated existing light sources on each set. None of the sets were specially designed either. I used real locations and didn't tidy them up to make them more "filmesque".

            When it came to the actors, I instructed them to mimic real life. This involved not attempting to over annunciate speech or body movement, not attempting to cover up accents, and natural interaction with other actors. I told them, "If you would slur this line in real life, slur it here." I didn't want any "cleanness" to remind the audience that they were seeing a film.

            Orthodox Judaism was a core part of this story, and realism was a key concern in its depiction. Too many films present religion as if to an uninitiated audience, where everything is explained, and the characters use common words that all viewers will understand as opposed to their own exclusive lexicon. This makes the religious world as depicted seem very unreal when compared to actual practice. I wanted to present an unapologetic view of Orthodox life from the perspective of Daniel, an Orthodox Jew. As such, many aspects of observance and practice are deliberately left unexplained, as would occur in real life. I wanted the uninitiated to feel as if they were entering a world that was different and new. There would be practices and words they would hear and see but not understand, relying on context to interpret what they were being shown. I wanted to challenge and encourage audience members unfamiliar with Orthodox Judaism to ask questions and research the things they had seen that were unfamiliar to them.

Post Production

Post production was a nightmare. I was faced with the task of synchronizing the many hours of ADR audio by myself, as well as finding and synching the many hundreds of sound effects required for the film. Again Michael Shoshani came through, supplying me with a library of tens of thousands of sound effects. After the sound mix was complete, the final step was scoring.

I had experimented with the musical score I wanted for Narrow Bridge during the filming process. After everything else was complete, I sat down in front of my piano with the film playing in front of me and recorded the score live in one take. Yehudit Weinberger, who was an extra in the film and a friend of mine, had composed a touching song as part of an assignment in a songwriting class. She allowed me to use it in the film and variations of it appear in the score.

I had been spending so much time on the film, sometimes neglecting food and sleep. By the time the movie was complete I had lost fourteen pounds. Finally, after about two months of post production and much anticipation, the film was ready for an audience. A dream of over a year, but more truthfully, half of my lifetime in the making, was at last complete.