"Women of Valor" Doc: Orthodox Women Find Their Voice

Israeli director, Anna Somershaf sits down with host Sandra Abrams in this episode to talk about her award-winning feature documentary, Women of Valor. The film follows the odyssey of Esty Shushan, an orthodox mother and wife, as she seeks to change the law for Haredi women to be elected representatives to Israel's Knesset. Over a five year period, there are many obstacles, especially from ultra-religious men, as these Orthodox women become modern-day Suffragettes, fighting to have their own voices heard. For some Orthodox women, it comes at a high cost. The film is in both Hebrew and English, and is the winner of the Best Documentary Feature at the 2023 Richmond International Film Festival. In their conversation, you’ll hear about the journey of getting the film made and more specifics about the powerful documentary.

LINK TO TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/584628555
LINK TO FILM’S FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/womenofvalor.film

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Transcript

00:00 - VO (Host)
One, two, three and action. Welcome to Media and Monuments presented by Women in Film and Video in Washington DC. Media and Monuments features conversations with industry professionals speaking on a range of topics of interest to screen-based media makers interest to screen-based media makers. 

00:31 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
Ultra-orthodox women living in Israel are seeking to have their voices heard through the political system in the award-winning Israeli documentary entitled Women of Valor. The film follows the odyssey of Esti as she pushes to change the law for Hardari women to be an elected representative and serve in the Knesset, which is forbidden, all the while she follows her Orthodox lifestyle. I'm your host, sandra Abrams, and in this episode I'm chatting with the director and writer, anna Somershoff. Let me tell you a little bit about Anna. Anna Somershoff is an Israeli documentary filmmaker and producer, born in Moscow and immigrated to Tel Aviv in her childhood. Her films deal with social political burning issues. She's the director and producer of this film and we are delighted to be speaking with her. One of her previous projects as a director is Jihad Now, a TV series about global jihad, and Holy Land, a documentary about a Guyana pastor of migrant workers. In addition to her filmmaking activity, she also teaches documentary and research at the cinema department at Batebert I'm probably not pronouncing that right Bilger College, wonderful. She also went to school at Saffir College Film School and got her BFS, participated in an international program in Paris We'll ask her about that and completed her MA in Cultural Studies in Tel Aviv University. 

02:00
Welcome Anna to Media and Monuments. Thank you, sandra. So good to be here with you Now. We had originally met in September last year, marched in DC at the DC JCC where you showed your film Women of Valor and we had planned to chat about on a podcast last October, but then the Hamas attack happened in Israel on October 7th. So I'm glad we're able to connect now. How are you doing and how's your family? 

02:30 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Thank you. Well, that's how am I doing. It's a question for a whole podcast, but I'll just say briefly that it seems like it was in a different reality where we met and it was a very, and still is, a very, very challenging time in so many ways. But we're okay and our close family and friends are alive. So that's a lot in these days, yeah, and it was very hard. The month was was even like I couldn't really imagine. How can we discuss, talk about art, how can we talk about films? It's like everything stopped and and as time went by and the shock levels a little bit um, got a little bit more um, I don't know, because get used to everything. It's very, very sad, um, but then I realized how this film is actually becoming much more relevant, because the place of women in our society and in our world, our voice, is missing. We still don't have enough women to dictate things and to move for a better future. 

03:46 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
Well, let's talk more about your film, because I did briefly speak about it in the intro, but maybe you can give a little more insight about what this film is about. 

03:57 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
So there are about 600,000 ultra-Orthodox women in Israel. Hundred thousand ultra-Orthodox women in Israel. It's quite a big society which is divided into many, many smaller societies. But mainly they are represented by two parliament parties, Shas and Ebudat Israel. And these parties, who sit officially in the Israeli parliament, do not accept women. It's a historic thing. There are a lot of cultural explanations. Of course, there are a lot of religious excuses, although it is only excuse. 

04:32
Nowadays, ultra-Orthodox women are everywhere. They study, they provide, they work, they do everything. So the fact that they are not represented, it's something you cannot imagine. How it's possible in 2024. And about 11 years ago, Esty Shushan, the brave and incredible woman who started this movement, she just stood up and she said this cannot, this can't just happen. And she paid a big price for this fight. And the film actually documents this journey. I was with them for five years and I documented how more and more brave women joined this struggle, what prices they paid and, eventually, the baby steps that they did to open up and to prepare for a better future for their daughters, hopefully, and maybe granddaughters. 

05:30 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
One of the things that I found interesting is, given your background you're from Moscow, you go to Tel Aviv, you are not part of the ultra-Orthodox community, so how did you even find this film or find out about what was happening or find the information? Because that in and of itself, it sounds like it was a journey. 

05:48 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Yeah, so that's itself is a film. But yeah, I'm not ultra Orthodox, I'm not even religious and secular and actually I had no connection with the ultra Orthodox women. All I the things I knew was from the media and it wasn't really good things. It was very stereotyped, thinking about weak, poor women who don't raise their voice and who just do whatever is needed and whatever they are told. 

06:17
And then I went to my master's degree in Tel Aviv University where I met one of the activists, another person who is in the movie, and she just blew my mind, like when she told her story. I saw this independent, strong, intelligent woman and I said like how come I never met this kind of women? How come I never heard about this struggle? And actually I know the same day that this is going to be my film, my next film. It took me a while to convince them because it's not easy to let a camera into your life, especially when you're ultra-Orthodox, and it's very complicated, but that's how it all started complicated, but that's how it all started and they see their role as the suffragettes who are continuing what was originally done. 

07:10 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
The suffragettes came along, so they see themselves as pushing forth on that end and saying, okay, well, the suffragettes did this, so we can do and move forward on that. 

07:22 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Yeah, I think it's very important to remember that social struggles it's always layered and it always like sits on previous struggles. So the fact that we today have, as women, have license and bank accounts and we can vote, it's not something we can take for granted. And I really appreciate the fact that they understand that they are sitting on bigger shoulders. And for me, when I documented them for these past five years, I sometimes have to pinch myself, not believing because I was feeling like I'm there with the super jets 100 years ago. So, yeah, history repeats itself. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to fight the same struggles again and again, and again, but hopefully there's also some optimism for change. 

08:22 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
Let's hope so. We need that change. And one of the things I wanted to ask you though you did mention that it took over five years One of the things that happens with films the funding. So how did you, a keep going and convince them that continue to have cameras in their lives and, b the funding for this and you and your teammates, you know and putting this documentary together, how did you say, okay, we're going to keep going on this, because that is a long time to stick with a particular subject? 

08:54 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Yes, so that's a very good question, because that's part of the problems, why many people start filming and don't finish their films. We depend on funds. 

09:05
Most of us are not rich documentary filmmaking is very expensive yes, because it requires a lot of time and a crew, and and the editing work is very, very long, because you have to reshape and go again and again and again until you really find the right way to tell the story, and there are so many shooting days that are just left on the editing floor. 

09:32
But that's part of the process and that's also why I love this process. So, yeah, it's a lot about believing in the story and knowing somewhere deep inside that this is the story that I have to tell. I'm not doing films just to entertain or just to, you know, go to festivals because that's nice, but that's not enough to keep you waking up. Of course, not every morning you do this, you work on this film, but still it's something that is there always and you try to think how to make it better. Film, but still it's something that is it's there always and you try to think how to make it better. Um, and then applying again and again and again. I think I did about 80 submissions. 

10:09
um, yes, that's crazy, I know it's a crazy submissions oh my gosh, and and I got just a small small part of it, um, but it's all. It's all about having the the right team. You I had this co-producer, tal Barda, and I have an amazing cinematographer, emanuel Meyer, and my editor, tal Blogg. It's a very strong team of women who really believed in this, so this also gave me the power to move forward and not to give up. 

10:39 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
And how did you find your team of people? Because that really makes a difference, especially when you're sitting in the editing room and trying to put that footage together and, as you know, it did take you many years to do that. 

10:51 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Yeah. So first of all, it was important for me in this particular project although since then I continue to do that to work with women. I'm not against working with men. I really love working with men. Even my husband is an editor but there's something in the story that allowed me to create this intimacy. I had also a sound person and it was very, very helpful. I'm in this field of cinema for a while, so I already got to know some of the people, some of them. It was the first time I worked with them, but now I continue to work with them on other projects, so it was a really great experience. 

11:29 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
Well, that's wonderful, and in fact the film is won Best Feature International Documentary at the Richmond International Film Festival last year, and I think you also mentioned it as one another um best film prize. 

11:44 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
I have the point then, kyrgyzstan human rights festival, film festival, and it was really screened around the world uh, and for me it's such an amazing I mean awards are really nice, uh, but for me, meeting with the audience and seeing how each one sees this story and how it reflects on people's lives because it's not only a story about ultra-orthodox women, it's about liberation of women, it's about solidarity, it's about human rights I was really like in the States and I was in Holland and I was in Israel and many different places. I get to see how people react to it and it's, it's. It's no longer the way I see the film. It's now the, the, the connection that the audience has with the film, and that's I love this. 

12:35 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
That's an excellent point getting your film out there and meeting the people. So what's next for the film? Are you going to be coming to any more film festivals? 

12:44 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Yeah, so we have a screening in the San Diego Film Fest, a Jewish film festival, in February. The film was released in 2021, but we're still continuing and we, from time to time, we have other new festivals and also, in addition, we're always looking for ways to screen the film to other public, academics, to communities, to really give the strength to people to understand that social struggles are very difficult but they are possible. 

13:17 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
Well, what's going on with Esty now? How is she doing? 

13:21 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
So she's doing fine. What's going on with Esty now? How is she doing? So she's doing fine. She's, I mean relatively, because her son is also under reserve duties and it's not easy. She's a very, very talented person and it's only 1% of her talents that got into the film, because she's also. She just directed a fiction film actually. 

13:40 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
So she became a director. That's fantastic. 

13:44 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
She did study cinema before she met me, so I can't take the credit for it, but she did a fiction film which also talks about very, very interesting and important issues inside the Orthodox community. 

14:01
She also writes poetry and many, many other things, but among others, I think in this time she understood that there is this distance inside the Israeli community between the ultra-Orthodox and the secular community, because ultra-Orthodox usually don't go to the army and they're usually having their own communities and and there's a lot, of, a lot of sometimes ignorance but also hatred between between the groups. I think that what the government is usually trying to do is just to separate us and divide us so we won't all understand that we're actually facing the same problems and that we won't unite. So what she did was arranging many ultra-Orthodox women to help just after the seventh, to help with preparing things for the army, for preparing things for citizens, for arranging food and clothes and just coming all together, which is something that we saw in the whole Israeli society. After this terrible massacre. The people came together and said we're not trusting anyone to save us. We need to find our own solutions and to help each other to save us. 

15:22 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
we need to find our own solutions and to help each other. So in many ways this movement has helped her expand beyond what she was originally doing with her life and also helped her find her voice. And hopefully other people will see this film in that community but around the world and say, oh well, if she can do that in the ultra Orthodox community, we can do that in our community, and that's just such a beautiful message that you're putting out there with your film. It's really fantastic. 

15:49 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Thank you. I'm an optimistic person and I usually try to bring optimism and have to say that along the way I heard so many people saying but do they have any chance? And I have to admit that after all this time I know that they will manage and we can definitely learn from them and also to help them, because it's not only their problem, it's my problem as an Israeli secular woman whose place in this world is not secured. It also influences me the fact that there are so many chairs in the Israeli parliament or even in the city halls that are not secured for women. 

16:32 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
I wanted to just circle back now. You went to school film school, not in the United States and we have many people who go. Oh, I went to NYU and I went here in the United States for film school not in the United States and we have many people who go. Oh, I went to NYU and I went here in the United States for film school. Tell us about your experience going to film school in Israel and then you did a program in Paris as well, and how did that shape your filmmaking? 

16:58 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
I went to film school in Sderot I guess now everybody heard about this city and it was really a lovely experience the sense of community and the sense of you living there with this beautiful nature in the south, and you just trying to connect to communities that you're less familiar with. I'm from Tel Aviv, from the big city, so here it's like pretty much, you know, like a modern, uh um international place, but but then you you get to to meet different people and and and to make, try and make um um cinema that really sees people and really make a change. So that's something that I came with cinema that really sees people and really make a change. So that's something that I came with to my studies. But it also developed a lot during my studies there. I also met my husband there, so it's a nice extra touch. 

17:53
Yeah, and then I had this amazing opportunity to make one semester in Paris in the FEMIS film school, which is one of the biggest film schools, the most important one in France. So again being thrown to a different culture, different language. It was also meeting people from all over the world. There were people from so many countries there and also we didn't talk about it a lot, but I'm also an immigrant. So, um, I think the fact that I came here when I was little, I was always feeling Israeli, but I also looked at the society and the cultures a little bit, also from outside. So for me, being a filmmaker is it allows me, allows me, to really look at all these places, all these cultures, all these people, all these points of view and bringing them to the public, because sometimes we just don't see, we just don't look, we just don't know that it exists. 

18:56 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
It sounds like good advice that you're giving to people who are filmmakers or want to be filmmakers, that you're giving to people who are filmmakers or want to be filmmakers any other advice that you would offer to them in starting a project, such, you know, if they say I want to do a documentary film, Patience, big patience, and this is something that is very hard for me also sometimes. 

19:20 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
But when you set your goal, you just have to keep your eyes on it and sometimes it looks impossible, but then you okay, you take a step back and you then try to find another way. If the door is closed, then you come from the window right and surrounding yourself with great, great people who will encourage you, who will help you and who will also sometimes question or make you think better about things you do or things you say. Not to take anything for granted, and maybe I would also say that it's important to To know what you want, but also be open, because reality is like I call it, the gods of documentaries. Like you can never imagine what happened, what will happen, so sometimes you also have to be open enough to see the opportunities that are coming to your direction. 

20:19 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
That's what I felt like when watching your film that you didn't know what would happen and the twists and turns that I saw. I was like, wow, had you stopped filming after a year or two, then you would not have seen the road and the path that the different people went on, and I thought that's what made your film so beautiful and why I loved it so much. 

20:42 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Thank you so much, although you know that it's funny, because some of the things that happened in the film I wrote because we have to write a script to submit to fans. So you can, if you look at my my first submissions, there were all the elements. I just didn't know how it will come out. But when it's's something magical, really I don't. I can't explain it. 

21:04 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
So you have some script idea, but there are elements of surprise. Is that what you're saying goes along? 

21:11 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
yes, you know, you know where you. It depends on, on the kind of the film this kind of film is. It's really depends on on the movement and on on reality. Right, if I'm doing a film about something that's already historical, that already happened, maybe it will be easier for me to shape the narrative. But yeah, of course I have to show that I know where, that I know how I would like to tell the story, even if eventually the story will be different. 

21:38 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
So what are you doing now? Is there a particular script that you're working on? Is there a particular film that you're working on? Is a particular film development that's happening? 

21:45 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
yeah, so I'm actually working on two new films, documentaries as a director, uh, which is crazy, because usually, um, you develop something, you film something, you're in post-production, but now it's like all together, but it's very exciting. Both projects related to women as well. Um, yeah, yeah, I mean this. Our stories are so interesting and and they're not told enough. It's. It's not that I decided I will only tell stories of women, but they're. They're so powerful, um, and we need to to speak out often. We need to be heard, because sometimes we have really important things to say. Yeah, so shortly I'll say that one project is about the women in Israeli society, from the establishment of Israel, through the eyes of a women magazine that is, still, until today, exists. It's called Leisha for the women and it's fascinating. It's really a historic, very, very interesting project. And the other very exciting project that I'm working on is about mostly women, but of course, there are also men there from an organization called United Atzala who are volunteers and they save people's lives. 

23:09 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
Oh, that sounds so wonderful. That's great. So I wanted to ask you, though you mentioned about doing the historic project how do you go about finding your source material, because I know that that's an issue here in the United States. People have to go and find their source material. Then they have to do the fundraising to pay for the source material. What's happening on that end, when you look at historical and source information? 

23:36 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
So my colleague it was like her initiative of this project. She's also doing the research, the visual research, and yeah, it's a long process and it's quite expensive process but that's all part of what we have. Like, we have a TV channel that secured its fans and now we're working to create a trailer and to show what we can bring out and then hopefully raise more money. So it's a risk. Nobody can promise you that you will get to the ending point, but when you know that you have a good story and you have a great team around you, eventually it will happen. Hopefully it won't take five years this time. 

24:22 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
Well, we look forward to those two upcoming films, hopefully sooner rather than later. I wanted to take a moment, though, and ask about what's happening with the Israeli film community at this time. Are people still doing projects, people still going out and filming? Any insight that you can give to that situation? 

24:42 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
still going out and filming any insight that you can give to that situation. Yeah, so it's a very, very difficult time also for the, because the film community, documentary film community have this obligation or wish or desire to tell the stories of so many victims that were killed and suffered and raped and whatever, on this attack and beyond. And so at first many of the community members they just volunteered to film to tell their story, to tell the story of the families of the kidnapped people, because there are so many kidnapped people who are stuck in the Hamas captivity and their story is not heard. So there was a lot of movement of people trying to do something. But then, after all, we also have to pay the rent. 

25:45
So, um, so it's a very, very challenging time because we all want to to be there and to help and to tell the stories, but we also need to get back to to our projects and to the things that we the, the other stories that we want to tell. So, yeah, it it's not easy. Also, in the fiction world, many productions stopped and it's like domino right. When there are not enough shooting going, then you cannot edit, then everybody loses their work. So it's not an easy time, but, on the other hand, always trying to remember that there's so much human suffering right now in this area. So it's all in this context. 

26:46 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
February. We may be watching this and listening to this podcast after that fact, but if people want to find out more information about their film, where can they go and learn more about Women of Valor? 

26:52 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Yeah, so I can put you a Facebook page link and then you can we update there all the next screenings that we will have. And from time to time we also have online screenings and if people want to even book an online screening, they can also reach me, so there will be other options to watch the film. 

27:15 - Sandra Abrams (Host)
The documentary is Women of Valor. It's one hour and 16 minutes long. It's directed by Anna Somersheth and written by Anna and Tal Bragg, and, on behalf of Media and Monuments, I want to say thank you so much, anna, for being with us, and stay safe. 

27:32 - Anna Somershaf (Guest)
Thank you so much. Thank you for giving me this voice, this platform. 

27:37 - VO (Host)
Thank you for listening to Media and Monuments, a service of women in film and video. Please remember to review, rate and subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast. For more information about WIF, please visit our website at wifasandfrankvsandvictororg. Media and Monuments is produced by Sandra Abrams, candice Block, brandon Ferry and Tara Jabari, and edited by Emma Klein and Juliana Yellen, with audio production and mix by Steve Lack Audio. For more information about our podcast, visit mediaandmonumentscom. That's a wrap.