Portal:Film/Selected article/59
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Trembling Before G-d is a 2001 documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, who wanted to compare Orthodox attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay Conservative Jew. The film won several awards, including Teddy Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival, the 2001 Chicago International Film Festival, and the 2003 GLAAD Media Awards. Trembling Before G-d is filmed in the style of cinéma vérité. This style of filmmaking aims for extreme naturalism using non-intrusive filming techniques, genuine locations instead of sound stages, and little post-production mixing or voiceovers. The film is mostly in English, but also has some subtitled Yiddish and Hebrew. The film follows the lives of several gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews and includes interviews with rabbis and psychotherapists about Orthodox attitudes towards homosexuality. During the film's six-year production, DuBowski met hundreds of homosexual Jews but only a handful agreed to be filmed out of fear of being ostracized from their communities. Many people who agreed to be interviewed are shown only in silhouette or with their faces pixelized. Trembling Before G-d was successful at the box office, grossing over $5,500 on a single screen on its first day of release and $788,896 on eight screens by its close date on January 5, 2003. The film received ten award nominations, winning seven.
