Marry Me, However Watch trailer
Marry Me, However
dir. Mordechai Vardi, 63 min., Israel, 2020, Bulgarian and English subtitles
“Marry Ме, However” is a revealing and extremely honest film set in an Orthodox Jewish community, following young women and men who marry against their sexual orientation in order to comply with their religion’s beliefs and family expectations. The film takes however a multi-layered approach, which is not limited to the LGBTI+ human rights issue and places it in the context of society as a whole. Rabbi Mordechai Vardi goes through the way religion should change its perspective and stop denying LGBTQI+ right to be part of society. The film demonstrates also the disastrous consequences for partners who have been denied intimacy and love, led to believe that their spouses will be “fixed” after a psychologically twisted “conversion” procedure.
About the director:
Mordechai Vardi is the rabbi of Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim and a director, scriptwriter, and instructor at Ma’aleh school of Television, Film, & the Arts in Jerusalem. He says about himself that up until he turned 40 he was a “normal” rabbi, but then he was so drawn to cinema that he graduated from Tel Aviv’s film school. About the subject of his film, he admits it is definitely one of the most explosive topics in the world of religion. “There is a big clash between reality and what is written in the Bible”, he says, “nobody is talking about this issue, but people who marry against their sexual orientation get suicidal”. He believes that regarding this issue, Judaism should and is changing just like psychology and medicine. And he is one of those people who are changing conservative views from the inside.
Special event: 17 December (Thursday), 19:00 Online meeting with Lilia Dragoeva, Bilitis Foundation and Simeon Vassilev GLAS Foundation
Watch online from 10 December, 2020
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