Whether it's the connection to our youth or the joy of finding oneself, there's something about a good coming-of-age story that hits all of us. This program is all about these types of stories, from young boys learning about gender norms to a girl dealing with her mixed culture in a largely white society to a young girl dealing with her parents' divorce. If you are looking for a film that hits all of that nostalgia of youth, Growing Pains is the program for you.
"When I first started elementary school in Israel as a new immigrant from New York, I entered a world that was foreign to me. I observed the unwritten rules and the status quo and followed them. Not long after the school year started I found "my people", the rest of the Americans. I became a leading member of the group and that was the world I stayed in. I did not try and change the norms that where there before I arrived. I fell in love with an Ethiopian boy with a shy smile, but I never dared to go near him. I ignored the feelings that I had developed towards him. Although I was a leader within my own group, I did not challenge the status quo and the unwritten rules. Living in the same town, studying in the same class, we were from different worlds. I let those social norms lead the way I lived my life. I am not sure what I missed out on, but I know I missed out. I regret the steps I never took. I regret conforming to the social norms and racism and letting it take over and determine how I would act and who I would be friends with.
In this film I am trying to do what I didn’t have the courage to do back then, to stand up against the status quo and fight for what I know is right. To try and go back a time before I let people force me into believing that if we have a different skin color, we do not belong together.
The boy I fell in love with I only knew from afar, I never allowed myself to get close enough to really get to know him. Childhood is a time for change, as little leaders we have the power to make a change before reality wears you down and the despair of being a grown up makes you believe you don't have the power to make a difference. Before we become so stuck in our ways and give in to the way things are.
In this film I am trying to go back, and start all over." - Ruchama Ehrenhalt (Writer/Director)
- Year2021
- Runtime14:14
- DirectorRuchama Ehrenhalt
- ScreenwriterRuchama Ehrenhalt
- ProducerShira Billig
Whether it's the connection to our youth or the joy of finding oneself, there's something about a good coming-of-age story that hits all of us. This program is all about these types of stories, from young boys learning about gender norms to a girl dealing with her mixed culture in a largely white society to a young girl dealing with her parents' divorce. If you are looking for a film that hits all of that nostalgia of youth, Growing Pains is the program for you.
"When I first started elementary school in Israel as a new immigrant from New York, I entered a world that was foreign to me. I observed the unwritten rules and the status quo and followed them. Not long after the school year started I found "my people", the rest of the Americans. I became a leading member of the group and that was the world I stayed in. I did not try and change the norms that where there before I arrived. I fell in love with an Ethiopian boy with a shy smile, but I never dared to go near him. I ignored the feelings that I had developed towards him. Although I was a leader within my own group, I did not challenge the status quo and the unwritten rules. Living in the same town, studying in the same class, we were from different worlds. I let those social norms lead the way I lived my life. I am not sure what I missed out on, but I know I missed out. I regret the steps I never took. I regret conforming to the social norms and racism and letting it take over and determine how I would act and who I would be friends with.
In this film I am trying to do what I didn’t have the courage to do back then, to stand up against the status quo and fight for what I know is right. To try and go back a time before I let people force me into believing that if we have a different skin color, we do not belong together.
The boy I fell in love with I only knew from afar, I never allowed myself to get close enough to really get to know him. Childhood is a time for change, as little leaders we have the power to make a change before reality wears you down and the despair of being a grown up makes you believe you don't have the power to make a difference. Before we become so stuck in our ways and give in to the way things are.
In this film I am trying to go back, and start all over." - Ruchama Ehrenhalt (Writer/Director)
- Year2021
- Runtime14:14
- DirectorRuchama Ehrenhalt
- ScreenwriterRuchama Ehrenhalt
- ProducerShira Billig