January

The Therapy

Zvi Landsman

A first look inside Israeli ‘conversion therapy’. Lev is an Orthodox Jew, determined to overcome his gay feelings. Ben is a student and has been in conversion therapy for years. Now, he’s beginning to doubt the practice. Open, vulnerable portrait of two men struggling to be who they want to be.

After his wife divorced him when she found out he watched gay material on the Internet, 54-year-old Lev went to his rabbi in despair. Even since university he has tried to get rid of his attraction to men, but it always comes back. His rabbi recommended a conversion therapist. For Lev, who we follow in group sessions and conversations with his therapist, the therapy helps ‘to be who I want to be’. He hopes to become ‘normal’, so he can marry a woman again.

Student Ben (23) was raised in the ultra-Orthodox community. He has been in conversion therapy for seven years and has developed a strong bond with his therapist. But now he’s conducting academic research into the practice, and discovers that it’s considered harmful. Slowly, he tries to break away from it. But is he really ready to be proud of the fact that he is gay?

Credits

Regie
Zvi Landsman
Type
Documentary
Country
Israel
Year
2021
Language
English, Hebrew
Subtitles
English
*Theaters with a Q&A or side programme in English.

Theater dates and times

Alkmaar
Tue 10 Jan at 19:00 in Filmhuis Alkmaar
Amersfoort
Mon 9 Jan at 20:15 in De Lieve Vrouw
Amsterdam
Sun 15 Jan at 19:15 in Kriterion*
Apeldoorn
Tue 10 Jan at 20:00 in Gigant
Arnhem
Tue 10 Jan at 19:00 in Focus Filmtheater
Delft
Thu 12 Jan at 19:30 in Filmhuis Lumen
Den Haag
Sun 8 Jan at 15:00 in Filmhuis Den Haag*
Deventer
Mon 23 Jan at 20:00 in MIMIK
Enschede
Mon 16 Jan at 19:30 in Concordia
Gouda
Tue 17 Jan at 20:00 in Filmhuis Gouda
Groningen
Tue 10 Jan at 20:30 in VERA Zienema*
Hilversum
Tue 10 Jan at 20:15 in Filmtheater Hilversum
Leiden
Mon 9 Jan at 19:00 in Kijkhuis*
Maastricht
Mon 16 Jan at 19:30 in Lumière Cinema*
Middelburg
Mon 30 Jan at 20:00 in Cinema Middelburg*
Utrecht
Mon 9 Jan at 19:00 in Louis Hartlooper Complex*
Wageningen
Tue 24 Jan at 19:30 in Movie W*
Online
in Picl