Sandi Simcha DuBowski is an American director and producer, best known for his work on the intersection of LGBT people and their religion, DuBowski directed the 2001 documentary ''

Trembling Before G-d ''Trembling Before G-d'' is a 2001 American documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, an American who wanted to compare Orthodox Jewish ...

'' and is the producer of

Parvez Sharma Parvez Sharma is a New York-based Indian filmmaker, author, and journalist. He is a recipient of the 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship in the film/video category. He was amongst the 173 fellows selected from 3000 applicants in the 94th year of the fe ...

's documentary ''

A Jihad for Love ''A Jihad for Love'' (preceded by a short film called ''In the Name of Allah'') is a 2008 documentary film and was the world's first film on Islam and homosexuality. It took a total of six years to make and premiered at the Toronto International ...

'' (formerly known as ''In the Name of Allah'') (2007).

Personal life

DuBowski was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

in 1970. He was raised in

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of '' halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generat ...

. DuBowski attended

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Hunter is publicly funded, and there ...

in New York City, during which he was selected to participate in Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. In 1992, DuBowski graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. As an undergraduate, he received two Ford Program for Undergraduate Research grants for his work on homosexuality in Hollywood and independent film. He lives and works in New York City.

Work

Before beginning full-length films, DuBowski worked for

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

as a research associate for nearly three years, creating videos on the

Christian Right The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with ...

and

anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respo ...

. In 1996 he produced ''Missionaries Form Militias'', documenting anti-abortion leader Rev. Matt Trewhella calling for the formation of armed militias. It was screened for Attorney General

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...

and federal law enforcement officials, following the murder of abortion provider Dr. Bayard Britton. An excerpt was run on CBS News, was reported by publications including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'', and has been used by the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment to train human rights activists. In 2006, DuBowski appeared in the Paul Festa documentary ''Apparition of the Eternal Church''.Apparition of the Eternal Church
official site The film captures the responses of 31 authors, musicians, filmmakers and dancers as they listen to

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonical ...

's organ piece "Apparition of the Eternal Church."Apparition of the Eternal Church
IMDB DuBowski has worked as speaker and has moderated numerous religious dialogues on homosexuality, including a Mormon-Jewish dialogue and Christian-Muslim-Jewish panel. He and Steven Greenberg, the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, have traveled to 60 cities and organized over 400 question-and-answer sessions, dialogues, events, inter-faith discussions.

''Tomboychik'' (1994)

''Tomboychik'' is a 15-minute video directed by and starring DuBowski. The story, shown through a series of vignettes, centers around his relationship with his grandmother, Malverna DuBowski, as 22-year-old Sandi DuBowski attempts to teach his 88-year-old grandmother how to film. The short video portrays struggles against

gender roles A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

and

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...

. The Melbourne International Film Festival described the film:

''Trembling Before G-d'' (2001)

Growing up, DuBowski had not known any

Orthodox Jews Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

. The main motivation to make the film was curiosity. The film took more than six years to make. During this time, DuBowski grew more religious and began studying the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

regularly, he said, "It was a whole world I hadn't experienced growing up. It gave me a beauty and love for the tradition of Judaism."

''A Jihad for Love (2007)''

DuBowski produced the documentary ''

'' (previously known as ''In the Name of Allah''), directed by

. Filmed in 11 different countries in 9 different languages, the film explores the lives of gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims, and DuBowski intends for it to be "a profound catalyst for change" As producer, DuBowski said that he wanted to screen the film in "every Muslim nation, even if it's underground."

Awards and recognition

DuBowski was named one of ''

The Jewish Daily Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...

s "Forward 50", which is given to the 50 Jews who have "been at the center of the year's events, demonstrating leadership, offering new ideas and representing a distinct Jewish presence in American life." He is also a recipient of the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Ca ...

's Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship and the

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

Moving Image Award. Along with Rabbi Steven Greenberg, DuBowski was awarded seed funding by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spi ...

's Righteous Persons Foundation in order to launch an Orthodox community education project for ''

'' in the U.S., Israel and the U.K.

Filmography

*''Tomboychik'' (1994) — director, producer, photographer, editor, actorTomboychik details http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/519352 *''Missionaries Form Militias Unholy Alliance'' (1996) — director *''Trembling Before G-d'' (2001) — director, producer *''A Jihad for Love'' (2007) — producer

References

External links

Online conference
with Sandi DuBowski at

The D-Word The D-Word is an online community for professionals in the documentary film industry. Discussions include creative, business, technical, and social topics related to documentary filmmaking. The name "D-Word" is defined as "industry euphemism for doc ...

Sandi DuBowski
in the

Video Data Bank Video Data Bank (VDB) is an international video art distribution organization and resource in the United States for videos by and about contemporary artists. Located in Chicago, Illinois, VDB was founded at the School of the Art Institute of Chic ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubowski, Sandi Simcha Living people 1970 births Harvard University alumni Hunter College High School alumni LGBT Jews Film directors from New York City American documentary film producers LGBT film directors Radical Faeries members Camp Rising Sun alumni Film producers from New York (state)