Orthodox woman directs

Can a young holocaust survivor direct a drama program in a 1950s Catskills summer camp? Robin Garbose, an accomplished Hollywood-based Orthodox film director tackles the question with a movie musical, where lead character Miriam is initially a quiet and broken spirit, but she and her campers are both transformed by their interactions.

“The Heart that Sings” features Orthodox actresses, singers and dancers trained at Kol Neshama, a Los Angeles acting school for Orthodox women, which Garbose directs.

“We broke the ice with Greytowers,” Garbose said, describing how her 2008 film paved the way for young talented women to perform professionally in a modest way acceptable to Jewish tradition. Last summer, girls from around the country rehearsed for four weeks and then shot the movie in only 18 days. An extremely short shooting time for a feature length film, the new actresses were required to awake for five a.m. casting calls.

Brooklyn resident Malka Kugel, 14, was never trained in acting before attending Kol Neshama. Kugel said she felt “like a professional actress” after merely seven weeks in the program. “When we were filming it was magical. Everything we were taught came together,” Kugel said. Garbose hired a professional crew to shoot at several Los Angeles locations: a ranch on a far-out valley for exterior shots, an RV park for interiors, and downtown for some New York-style architecture.

Made on a Hollywood-standard budget, the film cost $350,000 to produce with completion funds raised through a clever online fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.com. Using the number 18– the gematria value for “Chai” or “life”- Garbose reached her goal of raising $18,000 on Kickstarter through incentive awards for backers who pledged money.