Gabriela Böhm (born 1964) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

documentary

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

from Buenos Aires, Argentina now living in Los Angeles.

Background

Born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

to immigrant parents — survivors of the Holocaust — she completed high school and the army in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

before she moved to the United States. Böhm is fluent in Spanish, English and Hebrew. She studied painting, sculpture, art history, photography and film at A Midrasha Le Morim Leomanut Art School in Israel (1985–1986), got a BFA from

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

(1990) and is an MFA candidate in documentary film at the Maine Media College.

Film career

Her first feature-length documentary, ''Passages'' (2000), which she wrote, directed and produced with her company Böhm Productions, won the Best Documentary award at the

Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival that was launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto with the goal to bring high quality independent film to the Hudson Valley region. The festival takes place each fa ...

. This personal film was a search into her family's history in an attempt to pass on its legacy to her unborn son. Böhm also wrote, directed, produced and co-edited ''The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America'' (2007), which has won numerous awards including Best Documentary at the Long Island Latino International Film Festival, a Telly Award for Religion and Spirituality, and Best Latino Film at the

Santa Fe Film Festival The Santa Fe Film Festival is a non-profit organization which presents important world cinema that represents aesthetic, critical, and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film. The organization partners with educational groups, schools, ...

. The film tells the story of modern-day

Crypto-Jews Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...

(or

marranos Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to practice Judaism in secrecy. The term specifically refers to the cha ...

) forced to convert to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

during the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

in Spain and Portugal and who are now returning to their Jewish faith. The film has screened internationally at film festivals in the US, Canada, South America, Europe and Israel. Böhm wrote, directed, produced and co-edited ''Raquel: a marked woman'' (2014) which has screened in the US, Canada, Europe and Israel. Synopsis: Raquel's story is from another time, but resonates today. A mother, she was torn from her children and tricked into prostitution. In the early 20th century, thousands of Eastern European Jewish women were lured to Argentina and forced into prostitution. Others gave up. Not Raquel. Bravely, she exposed her oppressors. The film has been honored with a Bronze Telly Award — Non-Broadcast Film/Video — History/Biography (2015). Other awards include: Silver Prize, Robinson International Short Film Competition (2015), Best Short Documentary/Punta del Este Jewish Film Festival (2015), Founders Award: The Joyce Forum/San Diego Jewish Film Festival (2015), Best in Fest Selection/ Palm Springs International ShortFest (2014) and Best Short Documentary/Warsaw Jewish Film Festival (2014). She also directed, produced, wrote and edited ''Voice-Less'', a short experimental film that screened at many US film festivals.

Personal life

Today Böhm is an American citizen, and she lives with her son in Los Angeles.

Filmography

* ''Raquel: a marked woman'' (2014) - 34 min * ''The Longing: the Forgotten Jews of South America'' (2007) - 75 min * ''Passages'' (2000) - 65 min * ''The Wild Side'' - short documentary * ''Voice-less'' (1990) - short film

References

External links

Bohm Productions Homepage
* *
Bohm live on Santa Fe Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohm, Gabriela American documentary filmmakers American people of Argentine-Jewish descent 1964 births Living people Argentine emigrants to Israel Argentine Jews Israeli emigrants to the United States Tisch School of the Arts alumni Maine Media College alumni Film people from Buenos Aires American women documentary filmmakers