of birds and boundaries

A filmmaker places an ad on Craigslist: Seeking Hasidic Researcher. ‘Marty’ answers. They agree to collaborate, record their phone calls, and never to meet, in this unorthodox work of non-fiction.

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NYTimes Op-Talk

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Now an episode of Love + Radio Podcast!

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Interactive rotary phone installed at Ildiko Butler Gallery, Fordham University, NY, NY as part of the Living Los Sures exhibition. On view through October in conjunction with the New York Film Festival.

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As seen at Megapolis Audio Fest at The New School, Interactive Installation. Answer the ringing phone and listen in.

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This is not a prank call, but a filmmaker doing research with a willing participant, neither of whom ever sees the other. While our ears are drawn to the filmmaker’s inquisitive conversation and mellifluous voice, we are presented a visual stream of mesmerizing, blobby black on white, Rorschach-type images. The words engage; the images sow confusion—the film scores as a compellingly hypnotic experiment in examining the psychological messiness of human relationships.

Tim Jackson, Arts Fuse

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Of Birds and Boundaries " examines the traditions of South Williamsburg’s Hasidic Jewish community. Through a series of phone interviews conducted with a Hasidic man she found through Craigslist, Berman probes the romantic, religious, and professional conventions of this deeply private group."

The Harvard Crimson. Following a screening at the Harvard Film Center.

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Amy Geller, the Boston Jewish Film Festival's new artistic director "is also including more movies by women like a bold, experimental documentary called “Of Birds and Boundaries,” directed by Annie Berman. “It’s pretty provocative,” Geller said, “She puts an ad on Craigslist for a platonic conversation with a Hasidic guy. So it’s a series of conversations that she records between her and this Hasidic man in Brooklyn.”Some light flirting mixes with thoughtful, sometimes surprising conversations about each other’s views on Judaism. “And it’s just a fascinating look at the something you don’t have access to in general,” Geller said. That’s the point of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Geller believes. She says she can’t wait to share the 45 films she selected for this year’s program."