To Hareidi director's request: film will not be screened on Shabbos

"To Fill the Void", the film which has won numerous awards, the successful creation of Hareidi director Rama Burstein, will not be screened in theaters on Shabbos and Jewish holidays. This is following her request and although it is highly unusual and has economic implications for a commercial movie.

"Very few things were clear to me in this journey," she said today. "Shabbos is one of them. Becoming a religious and believing person is not a game. Many Jews throughout history were willing to die in the name of their faith. I do not need to die, thank God, only to create with the ability to hold onto my deep faith."

When asked in an interview to magazine '24' of Yediot Ahronot what about the secular audience, Burstein replied: "If I make a film as a creative Hareidi and it is publicly screened on Shabbos, my Torah loyalty is questionable. What everybody does at home is not my business, what happens with my work publicly attests me."

The possibility that there could be an economical damage in revenue, she said: "I can not answer it logically. In my theory there is no blessing in profits which come on Shabbos, faith begins where reason ends."

Shuli and Michal Rand did the same thing 8 years ago when they published the film 'Ushpizin'. "Money is not everything," said Rand. "If you have to sell your soul, then no. The moment that is a basic, you do not connect with it too much and for us, the religious, it is not a consideration. It is clear to us that the film can not be screened on Shabbos and we expect a blessing following the messirus nefesh."

Four years later, when Rand published the musical album, "Good Point," he wrote on the cover of the CD that he asks of radio transmitters not to play it after Shabbos comes in and before it comes out. "And behold, the album sold one hundred thousand copies, and Shuli won the title of lyricist of the year and appeared with it in Caesarea."

Burstein's film will go on screen for the first time today (Thursday) on movie screens, as stated, at her request, it will not be screened on Shabboses.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!