Directing

Oren Rudavsky

Known for

Directing

Credits

24 titles

Oren Rudavsky (born c. 1957) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker specializing in work on religion outside the mainstream. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1979.

Known for

No artwork available
7.0

Portrays the experience of the Roth family when Rachel Roth dies of cancer at age 59. She leaves behind an immediate family consisting of her husband and two daughters. The film focuses on the pain and searching of the Roth family, particularly on the tensions between the demands of Jewish traditions and their own needs during Shiva, the seven day mourning period following the burial. The film is designed to stimulate discussion of the interplay between individuals and communities, and the rituals they practice during a period of suffering and crisis.

Saying Kaddish

1991

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America poster
5.9

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America, is the first in-depth documentary about a distinctive, traditional Eastern European religious community. In an historic migration after World War II, Hasidism found it's most vital center in America. Both challenging and embracing American values, Hasidim seek those things which many Americans find most precious: family, community, and a close relationship to God. Integrating critical and analytical scholarship with a portrait of the daily life, beliefs, and history of contemporary Hasidic Jews in New York City, the film focuses on the conflicts, burdens, and rewards of the Hasidic way of life.

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America

1998

No artwork available
NR

Aron is 88 years old, Eazek is 94 and Claudine is 89. Over seventy years ago, although they lost their entire families, they survived the holocaust and resettled in New York City. Now they are sharing their stories in a unique program led by a drama therapist with high-school students in Brooklyn. The hope is that this sharing will sensitize the students and give some closure to the adult survivors after all these years. The Witness Theater workshop they participate in culminates in the performance of a play based on Survivor stories.

Witness Theater

2019

The Treatment poster
6.0

Jake Singer is at loose ends in NYC, and neck deep in psychoanalysis with the outrageous Dr. Morales when he meets the enigmatic and beautiful widow Allegra Marshall.

The Treatment

2007

Colliding Dreams poster
6.9

We live at a moment in time when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now more than a century old, continues to be of overwhelming international political and societal importance. From its inception, that conflict has also, of course, had powerful and deeply troubling consequences for Israelis and Palestinians themselves. The story at its most basic level is one that involves two peoples struggling for national recognition and expression in a small but richly significant piece of land. The tragedy of this history, as both the Israeli novelist, Amos Oz, and the Palestinian scholar, Sari Nusseibeh, have each pointed out, stems from a conflict between the rights of two peoples with equal and legitimate aspirations to nationhood and self-expression in a single small territory to which they can both lay claim.

Colliding Dreams

2015

Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People poster
5.3

A biographical history of Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer, who revolutionized how news is presented, to whom it is catered to and the power of giving power to the masses.

Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People

2019

Behind the camera

No artwork available
7.0

Portrays the experience of the Roth family when Rachel Roth dies of cancer at age 59. She leaves behind an immediate family consisting of her husband and two daughters. The film focuses on the pain and searching of the Roth family, particularly on the tensions between the demands of Jewish traditions and their own needs during Shiva, the seven day mourning period following the burial. The film is designed to stimulate discussion of the interplay between individuals and communities, and the rituals they practice during a period of suffering and crisis.

Saying Kaddish

1991

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America poster
5.9

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America, is the first in-depth documentary about a distinctive, traditional Eastern European religious community. In an historic migration after World War II, Hasidism found it's most vital center in America. Both challenging and embracing American values, Hasidim seek those things which many Americans find most precious: family, community, and a close relationship to God. Integrating critical and analytical scholarship with a portrait of the daily life, beliefs, and history of contemporary Hasidic Jews in New York City, the film focuses on the conflicts, burdens, and rewards of the Hasidic way of life.

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America

1998

No artwork available
NR

Aron is 88 years old, Eazek is 94 and Claudine is 89. Over seventy years ago, although they lost their entire families, they survived the holocaust and resettled in New York City. Now they are sharing their stories in a unique program led by a drama therapist with high-school students in Brooklyn. The hope is that this sharing will sensitize the students and give some closure to the adult survivors after all these years. The Witness Theater workshop they participate in culminates in the performance of a play based on Survivor stories.

Witness Theater

2019

No artwork available
NR

Aron is 88 years old, Eazek is 94 and Claudine is 89. Over seventy years ago, although they lost their entire families, they survived the holocaust and resettled in New York City. Now they are sharing their stories in a unique program led by a drama therapist with high-school students in Brooklyn. The hope is that this sharing will sensitize the students and give some closure to the adult survivors after all these years. The Witness Theater workshop they participate in culminates in the performance of a play based on Survivor stories.

Witness Theater

2019

The Treatment poster
6.0

Jake Singer is at loose ends in NYC, and neck deep in psychoanalysis with the outrageous Dr. Morales when he meets the enigmatic and beautiful widow Allegra Marshall.

The Treatment

2007

The Treatment poster
6.0

Jake Singer is at loose ends in NYC, and neck deep in psychoanalysis with the outrageous Dr. Morales when he meets the enigmatic and beautiful widow Allegra Marshall.

The Treatment

2007

Colliding Dreams poster
6.9

We live at a moment in time when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now more than a century old, continues to be of overwhelming international political and societal importance. From its inception, that conflict has also, of course, had powerful and deeply troubling consequences for Israelis and Palestinians themselves. The story at its most basic level is one that involves two peoples struggling for national recognition and expression in a small but richly significant piece of land. The tragedy of this history, as both the Israeli novelist, Amos Oz, and the Palestinian scholar, Sari Nusseibeh, have each pointed out, stems from a conflict between the rights of two peoples with equal and legitimate aspirations to nationhood and self-expression in a single small territory to which they can both lay claim.

Colliding Dreams

2015

Colliding Dreams poster
6.9

We live at a moment in time when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, now more than a century old, continues to be of overwhelming international political and societal importance. From its inception, that conflict has also, of course, had powerful and deeply troubling consequences for Israelis and Palestinians themselves. The story at its most basic level is one that involves two peoples struggling for national recognition and expression in a small but richly significant piece of land. The tragedy of this history, as both the Israeli novelist, Amos Oz, and the Palestinian scholar, Sari Nusseibeh, have each pointed out, stems from a conflict between the rights of two peoples with equal and legitimate aspirations to nationhood and self-expression in a single small territory to which they can both lay claim.

Colliding Dreams

2015

Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People poster
5.3

A biographical history of Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer, who revolutionized how news is presented, to whom it is catered to and the power of giving power to the masses.

Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People

2019

Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People poster
5.3

A biographical history of Hungarian immigrant Joseph Pulitzer, who revolutionized how news is presented, to whom it is catered to and the power of giving power to the masses.

Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People

2019

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire poster
NR

"Sometimes I'm afraid the tale might be forgotten. Sometimes I'm afraid it is forgotten already." Told primarily through his own eloquent words, the film seeks to understand the man behind the searing and widely read memoir Night. Penetrating at the heart of the known and unknown, the film dives into the author’s legacy as one of the most influential survivors of the trauma of the Holocaust.

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire

2024

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire poster
NR

"Sometimes I'm afraid the tale might be forgotten. Sometimes I'm afraid it is forgotten already." Told primarily through his own eloquent words, the film seeks to understand the man behind the searing and widely read memoir Night. Penetrating at the heart of the known and unknown, the film dives into the author’s legacy as one of the most influential survivors of the trauma of the Holocaust.

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire

2024

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire poster
NR

"Sometimes I'm afraid the tale might be forgotten. Sometimes I'm afraid it is forgotten already." Told primarily through his own eloquent words, the film seeks to understand the man behind the searing and widely read memoir Night. Penetrating at the heart of the known and unknown, the film dives into the author’s legacy as one of the most influential survivors of the trauma of the Holocaust.

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire

2024

No artwork available
7.0

The incredible story of the 1985 bar mitzvah of American Eric Strom in Cracow, the first bar mitzvah to be held in Poland in thirty-five years.

Spark Among the Ashes: A Bar Mitzvah in Poland

1987

No artwork available
7.0

The incredible story of the 1985 bar mitzvah of American Eric Strom in Cracow, the first bar mitzvah to be held in Poland in thirty-five years.

Spark Among the Ashes: A Bar Mitzvah in Poland

1987

No artwork available
7.0

The incredible story of the 1985 bar mitzvah of American Eric Strom in Cracow, the first bar mitzvah to be held in Poland in thirty-five years.

Spark Among the Ashes: A Bar Mitzvah in Poland

1987

The Ruins of Lifta poster
1.0

Lifta, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, is the only Arab village abandoned in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that has not been completely destroyed or repopulated by Jews. Its ruins are now threatened by an Israeli development plan that would convert it into an upscale Jewish neighborhood. Filmmaker Menachem Daum – an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn – sets out to discover the story behind the headlines.

The Ruins of Lifta

2016

The Ruins of Lifta poster
1.0

Lifta, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, is the only Arab village abandoned in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that has not been completely destroyed or repopulated by Jews. Its ruins are now threatened by an Israeli development plan that would convert it into an upscale Jewish neighborhood. Filmmaker Menachem Daum – an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn – sets out to discover the story behind the headlines.

The Ruins of Lifta

2016

The Ruins of Lifta poster
1.0

Lifta, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, is the only Arab village abandoned in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that has not been completely destroyed or repopulated by Jews. Its ruins are now threatened by an Israeli development plan that would convert it into an upscale Jewish neighborhood. Filmmaker Menachem Daum – an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn – sets out to discover the story behind the headlines.

The Ruins of Lifta

2016

No artwork available
7.2

An Orthodox Jewish father tries to alert his adult sons to the dangers of creating impenetrable barriers between themselves and those outside their faith. He takes them on an emotional journey to Poland to track down the family who risked their lives to hide their grandfather for more than two years during World War II. Like many children of survivors, the sons feel that Poland is a country that is incurably anti-Semitic, but it is precisely here that they meet people who personify the highest levels of compassion

Hiding and Seeking

2004

No artwork available
7.2

An Orthodox Jewish father tries to alert his adult sons to the dangers of creating impenetrable barriers between themselves and those outside their faith. He takes them on an emotional journey to Poland to track down the family who risked their lives to hide their grandfather for more than two years during World War II. Like many children of survivors, the sons feel that Poland is a country that is incurably anti-Semitic, but it is precisely here that they meet people who personify the highest levels of compassion

Hiding and Seeking

2004

Everything Seemed Possible poster
NR

Ramón Rivera Moret remembers Puerto Rico at a utopian moment through the films produced in rural communities in the 1950s and 60s by the Film Unit of the Division of Community Education alongside stories from his own family.

Everything Seemed Possible

2026

Everything Seemed Possible poster
NR

Ramón Rivera Moret remembers Puerto Rico at a utopian moment through the films produced in rural communities in the 1950s and 60s by the Film Unit of the Division of Community Education alongside stories from his own family.

Everything Seemed Possible

2026

Night in Newark poster
NR

Night in Newark focuses on the insights of thirty students in Paris Murray's 7th grade classroom at Northstar Middle School. Their close reading of Elie Wiesel's classic Holocaust memoir explores the themes of freedom, memory and survival.

Night in Newark

2023