Film Festival

Opening Night: 2025 Matthew Harris Ornstein JxJ Short Film Fund Premiere

Lauren Greenhall and Sam Roebling created exciting films — premiering at this year’s Festival — with support from this fund. Lauren’s documentary How You Make A Torah explores women pioneering the tradition of writing the Torah. Sam’s narrative film Elijah blends dark comedy with serious social issues through the story of a homeless man crashing a Passover seder.

Share

Opening Night: 2025 Matthew Harris Ornstein JxJ Short Film Fund Premiere

Thursday, May 8, 7:30 PM – Goldman Theater, EDCJCC Before the Screening of Bad Shabbos
Reception following the screening – 9:00 PM in the 16^th Street Lobby, EDCJCC

This program is proudly sponsored by the Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation.

The Matthew Harris Ornstein JxJ Short Film Fund supports emerging American filmmakers exploring Jewish life, history, and culture. The fund awards $16,000 to two filmmakers for 10-minute short films and connects them with JxJ artistic leaders and mentor Natalie Difford, an award-winning producer and creative coach. The winners receive invaluable guidance throughout their journey to push their craft and help them realize their creative visions.

Inaugural winners Lauren Greenhall and Sam Roebling created exciting films — premiering at this year’s Festival — with support from this fund. Lauren’s documentary How You Make A Torah explores women pioneering the tradition of writing the Torah. Sam’s narrative film Elijah blends dark comedy with serious social issues through the story of a homeless man crashing a Passover seder.

Matthew Ornstein was a beloved and talented young man, successfully pursuing a screenwriting career in Los Angeles before his death at age 34. He would be delighted with the opportunities provided by this program for filmmakers to create and show short Jewish films that would otherwise not exist.

get tickets to opening night

That’s How You Make A Torah

From scraping the flesh off deer-hide in the backyard to stocking up on medical-grade scalpel blades, the first generation of women Torah scribes are preparing for the ultimate quest – to sit alone in a room for hours on end and write a Torah.

Special appearance by director Lauren Greenhall.

Dir. Lauren Greenhall | 10 min
Documentary Short | United States | 2024
English

Lauren Greenhall is a documentary Webby-nominated filmmaker whose work explores how joy is a catalyst for lasting social change and self-realization. Greenhall was a 2021 resident at the Jewish Film Institute for “ZELDA”–a documentary about an ultra-orthodox Jewish woman and her relationship with her wig–and was awarded the FY2024 Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts towards the completion of this film. She also received the 2024 DCJCC Matthew Harris Ornstein JxJ Short Film Fund for her documentary short about female Torah scribes and was selected as a 2025 participant in the New York Jewish Artists retreat, presented by Asylum Arts and the Neighborhood. Other short documentaries include “The Frock” (NYPost),“Abby Stein” (InsideEdition) and the “Muslims in America” series. (HuffPost) The virality of this series landed her the opportunity to speak at NYU about the relationship between religion and the media. She also directed Milk Riders, a short documentary that received international attention and was featured on the New York Times, Slate, Refinery 29, HuffPost, and Bust among others. Additionally, Greenhall has directed fiction feature films for hire, music videos, and branded documentary series as well as TV and video for NatGeo, The New Yorker, Matador Records, CBS Interactive, Vice TV, Amazon Originals, and Marvel among others.

Elijah

World Premiere

When a homeless man crashes a Passover seder, the tension between dark comedy and serious social issues erupts. Elijah explores the unexpected clash of humor and discomfort as the guests wrestle with their own assumptions and the complexities of charity, belonging, and identity.

Special appearance by director Sam Roebling.