Montreal’s Bunbury Films (Bigfoot’s Reflection, Once a Nazi) is taking on another unusual subject this summer with Leaving the Fold, a doc about Hasidic Jews who want to leave their community. Director Eric Scott (Je me souviens) conceived the project after encountering an organization in Israel that helps members of the Hasidim – a sect of highly religious Jews who live largely cut off from the surrounding culture – go their own way.

‘It’s a very difficult thing to do. It’s like a death in the family for the parents,’ says Scott, who is Jewish. ‘Often they perform a mourning ritual after it’s happened. You taint your family if you leave. You hurt the marriage prospects of your siblings. It burns bridges that can never be rebuilt.’

Bunbury’s Frederic Bohbot coproduced the $300,000 doc with his longtime collaborator Evan Beloff. It is set to air on Radio-Canada next spring and will likely be broadcast in English, as well.

‘The film’s strongest characters speak English. So once the rough cut is complete we’ll shop it around,’ says Bohbot. The project was funded principally by Telefilm Canada and SRC. It should wrap up production by the end of August. PATRICIA BAILEY

Montreal’s Bunbury Films (Bigfoot’s Reflection, Once a Nazi) is taking on another unusual subject this summer with Leaving the Fold, a doc about Hasidic Jews who want to leave their community. Director Eric Scott (Je me souviens) conceived the project after encountering an organization in Israel that helps members of the Hasidim – a sect of highly religious Jews who live largely cut off from the surrounding culture – go their own way.

‘It’s a very difficult thing to do. It’s like a death in the family for the parents,’ says Scott, who is Jewish. ‘Often they perform a mourning ritual after it’s happened. You taint your family if you leave. You hurt the marriage prospects of your siblings. It burns bridges that can never be rebuilt.’

Bunbury’s Frederic Bohbot coproduced the $300,000 doc with his longtime collaborator Evan Beloff. It is set to air on Radio-Canada next spring and will likely be broadcast in English, as well.

‘The film’s strongest characters speak English. So once the rough cut is complete we’ll shop it around,’ says Bohbot. The project was funded principally by Telefilm Canada and SRC. It should wrap up production by the end of August.