Documentary Feature/75min//Spanish with English subtitles
Ecuador 2007

Director/Producer/Co-Editor/Researcher:  Gabriela Böhm
Directory of Photography:  Guillermo Zappino
Co-editor:  Jonathan Brock
Composer:  Miriam Cutler

Synopsis:  A small group of South Americans long to affirm their faith.  Their ancestors — European Jews — were forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition.  Isolated in Catholic countries, rejected by local Jewish communities, they battle to become Jews regardless of the consequences.

The Longing, set in Ecuador, tells the story of their attempt to regain their birthright.  The group includes three women who travel 36 hours, one-way, by bus, from Colombia and a couple from a small Ecuadorian town. On the Internet, they have found an American rabbi committed to helping “lost Jews” reclaim their identities.  He meets them in Guayaquil, where he has difficulty getting the local Jewish community’s support in facilitating their conversions.  Ultimately, he convinces several local Jews to participate. The film provides a rare glimpse into the conversion process, including the ritual mikva (submersion) and Beit Din (rabbinical court).

Lost no more, the new converts’ dreams are fulfilled. Yet they face an uncertain future. 

Director’s Bio: Gabriela Böhm produced, directed and co-edited The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America, which premieres in 2007 at the New York Jewish Film Festival, presented by the Jewish Museum and Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Her first feature was Passages, a personal documentary chronicling her search to unlock family’s myths and secrets. By exposing the consequences of the Holocaust and other family traumas, she discovers her legacy, which she can pass on to her unborn son.  The film won Best Documentary/Woodstock Film Festival and Juror’s Best Documentary/Tampay Film Festival.

Previously, she produced, directed, wrote and edited a short experimental film, Voice-less, which screened at film festivals throughout the U.S.  She also produced The Wild Side, a short documentary on the war on drugs in Brazil.

Gabriela Böhm is tri-cultural. A native of Argentina, she studied film, photography, painting, sculpture and art history in Israel before coming to the United States.  She is now a U.S. citizen.  Böhm speaks Spanish, English and Hebrew.

Böhm graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts/Film and Television and is studying for her MFA in Documentary Film at Rockport College. 

Festivals & Special Screenings
New York Jewish Film Festival (World premiere),
Presented by The Jewish Museum & The Film Society of Lincoln Center
Show-Me Missouri International Film Festival
Vancouver Jewish Film Festival (Canada)
Kansas City Jewish Film Festival
Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival
Feria Artistica at Makor/92stY
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (Canada)
St. Louis Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival
Palm Desert Jewish Film Festival
Jewish Eye World Film Festival (Israel)
Dusseldorf Jewish Film Festival (Germany)
Santa Fe Film Festival
Tucson Jewish Film Festival
Festival de Cine Judio de Punta del Este
Contra Costa Jewish Film Festival
Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival
12th São Paulo Jewish Film Festival
Long Island Latino International Film Festival
Jewish Women in Global Perspective Film Festival (University of Indiana/Bloomington)

http://www.bohmproductions.com/

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