Bubbeh Lee and Me

An intimate and very funny portrait of an extraordinary, ordinary Jewish grandmother (Bubbeh) and a touching account of her gay filmmaker grandson's search for his place in the world. HBO. Winner, 1996 Judah Magnes Museum's Jewish Video Competition.

Director & producer Andy Abrahams Wilson is an Emmy-nominated, independent documentary filmmaker. Wilson grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and Knoxville, Tennessee. He received a bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology from Northwestern University and spent a year at the University of Florence in Italy. He subsequently studied at the the School of Cinema and Television at the University of Southern California, where he obtained his master's in film and anthropology. His first film, Positive Motion: Challenging AIDS through Dance and Ritual, was a hit on the festival circuit, winning, among other accolades, Best of Show in New York's Dance on Camera Festival. Positive Motion explores the filmmaker's own interest in dance, and the relationship between performance, creative expression, and healing. Wilson's approach to filmmaking is to make the camera more a participant than voyeur, dissolving barriers between observer and observed to create a true sense of intimacy. Skillfully accomplishing this in his most recent film, Bubbeh Lee & Me, Wilson takes his interest in social anthropology and applies it to its most personal and intimate level. Documenting a hilarious visit with his 87-year-old immigrant, Jewish grandmother in Florida, Wilson manages to break through and mend generational, cultural and psychological divides. The filmmaker currently resides in San Francisco, where he operates an independent production company, Open Eye Pictures, which specializes in programs about culture and the arts. FESTIVALS & AWARDS 1996 Runner-up, Judah Magnes Museum's Jewish Video Competition, Berkeley. 1997 Nominee, National Emmy Awards, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 1997 Best Documentary, Silver Images Film Festival, Chicago. 1997 Silver Angel at the Excellence in Media Angel Awards, Los Angeles. 1997 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. 1997 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.