Half the Kingdom

Six incredible women from Israel, Canada, and the U.S. take on the Jewish religious establishment. A rabbi recounts how her friends tried to persuade her not to seek the title. An observant woman asks her husband to abandon the daily prayer thanking God he was not born a woman. Writer Esther Broner relives her struggle to recite the Kaddish (Jewish prayer for the dead) for her father at a synagogue where one male congregate actually tries to strangle her with the "mechitza" (ritual barrier between men and women in an Orthodox synagogue). Moving footage from Jerusalem of women praying at the Western Wall and the "Women in Black" demonstrating against the occupation of the West Bank. A brave, powerful, inspiring document for women and men who believe in equality. The best film we have seen on this subject.

Zuckerman graduated from McGill University's film program in 1980 and has been a documentary filmmaker for the past fifteen years. Previous work includes "Exposure", a Gemini-nominated one-hour documentary connecting environmental toxins and breast cancer, starring Olivia Newton-John; "Half the Kingdom", a National Film Board co-production, an award-winning documentary about the struggles of seven contemporary Jewish women, and "Punch Me In the Stomach", a feature film adaptation of an off-Broadway solo performance piece, honored in Seattle at the Women and Cinema Festival. Zuckerman's work has been invited to participate in over 20 international film festivals and her films have been broadcast throughout North America, on PBS in the United States and CBC in Canada, Channel 4 in England, SBS in Australia, and TV3 in New Zealand, as well as Irish Television, Dutch Television, and Finnish Television. "Passengers' was co-produced and co-written by Zuckerman. Her new work includes a collaboration with Paula Fleck, a feature film to be shot in Montreal, and an anthology series for television based on the short stories of renowned Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, co-produced by Shaftesbury Films.