Arranged (2007)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

Diane Crespo
Stefan C. Schaefer

Writers:

Stefan C. Schaefer (story)
Stefan C. Schaefer (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

9 January 2009 (Brazil)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Friendship Has No Religion

Plot:

ARRANGED centers on the friendship between an Orthodox Jewish woman and a Muslim woman who meet as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn...

Plot Keywords:

Friendship | Arranged Marriage | Muslim | Jewish | Cross Cultural Friendship

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Zoe Lister Jones	...	Rochel Meshenberg
Francis Benhamou	...	Nasira Khaldi
Mimi Lieber	...	Sheli Meshenberg
John Rothman	...	Matan Meshenberg
Sarah Lord	...	Naomi Meshenberg
Trevor Braun	...	Avi Meshenberg
Doris Belack	...	Elona
Laith Nakli	...	Abdul-Halim Khaldi
Jason Liebman	...	Gideon
Marcia Jean Kurtz	...	Principal Jacoby
Peggy Gormley	...	Miriam
David Castro	...	Eddie
Sanjit De Silva	...	Jamil
Daniel London	...	Elliot
Max Shulman	...	Seth
Emma Lesser	...	Eva Meshenberg
Roger Shamas	...	Kalil
Arian Moayed	...	Ahmed Khaldi
Gina Shmuckler	...	Amina Khaldi
Alysia Reiner	...	Leah
Alison Becker	...	Beth
Laura Esterman	...	Judit
Joseph Emmi	...	Zahir
Ricky Smith	...	Jimmy
Jake Robards	...	Matthew
Lissette Espaillat	...	Patricia
Sondra James	...	Nina
Gary Smith	...	Justin
Bridget Moloney	...	Teacher #1
Yucini Diaz	...	Rebecca
Remy K. Selma	...	Jamil's Father (as Remy Selma)
Mercedes Herrero	...	Jamil's Mother
Amalya Tolchin	...	Nirit
Peter Appel	...	Yitzak Bellow
Gary Shteyngart	...	Lionya Abramovich
Larry Mills	...	Lazar ben Fischel
Tzvi Frankel	...	Science Date
Nicole Shalhoub	...	Woman #1
Alia Catherine Tarraf	...	Woman #2 (as Alia Tarraf)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Crystal Noelle	...	Teacher
James Arden	...	Party Pot Smoker (uncredited)

Directed by
Diane Crespo
Stefan C. Schaefer

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stefan C. Schaefer		story
Stefan C. Schaefer		written by
Yuta Silverman		story

Produced by
Diane Crespo	....	producer
Olaf de Fleur Johannesson	....	consulting producer
Andrew Lund	....	executive producer
Stefan C. Schaefer	....	producer
Yuta Silverman	....	executive producer
Isaac Wilkins	....	line producer

Original Music by
Sohrab Habibion
Michael Hampton

Cinematography by
Dan Hersey

Film Editing by
Erin Greenwell

Casting by
Kathleen Backel
Antonia Dauphin

Production Design by
Keren Kohen

Art Direction by
Elizabeth J. Jones

Set Decoration by
Katherine Rusch

Costume Design by
Beth Kelleher

Makeup Department
Christy McCabe	....	key hair stylist
Christy McCabe	....	key makeup artist
Ande Yung	....	second assistant makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jon Campbell	....	second assistant director
Andrew Corcoran	....	first assistant director
Sarah Gottlieb	....	second second assistant director
Ben Hoskins	....	second assistant director
Bruce Jones	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
David Corcoran	....	fx editor
George A. Lara	....	sound re-recording mixer
Octavio Warnock-Graham	....	sound mixer
Allan Zaleski	....	supervising sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Arisohn	....	gaffer
Giacomo Belletti	....	assistant camera
Christian Miller	....	key grip
Travis Tips	....	grip
Christopher Vidaic	....	grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rasheeda Johnson	....	wardrobe assistant

Other crew
Risa Campana	....	production assistant
Peter Chan	....	script supervisor
Mark Litwak	....	producer's representative
Darin J. Patterson	....	key production assistant
Dana Penrod	....	production assistant
Otto Porrazzo	....	insurance broker
Christoph Silber	....	script consultant
B.J. Steiner	....	production assistant
Ian Thompson	....	production assistant
Stavros Toumanidis	....	production coordinator
Patrick Wessel	....	production intern

Production Companies

• Cicala Filmworks

Distributors

• Film Movement (2007) (USA) (all media)
• Moviemobz Rain (2009) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Laptv (2009) (Argentina) (TV)
• Mongrel Media (2008) (Canada) (all media)
• Soda Pictures (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Sundance Channel (2009) (USA) (TV)

Other Companies

• Film Emporium  insurance by
• Mark Litwak & Associates  legal counsel

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew | Arabic

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Cicala Filmworks

Trivia:

The film is loosely based on the experiences of Executive Producer Yuta Silverman, an Orthodox Jew who befriended a Pakistani Muslim woman through the public schools in Brooklyn.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene with both women in the car (on the way to the cemetery), the items on the back window (behind Rochel) change position from cut to cut -- most notable is a newspaper.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Teacher: We're forced to handle the challenges of ESL. Different cultural traditions, everything they enter the classroom with, serious family dysfunctions. Basically our schools, New York city schools, are one big experiment, one big laboratory in this exercise we call the American Experience...

Uplifting film about Jewish-Muslim friendship

This film screened at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. This is a warm feel good film with a positive message that would be particularly good for teaching teens about overcoming prejudice and understanding different cultures. The film focuses on two young female teachers - one an Orthodox Jew and the other an observant Muslim - who are assigned to work together in a multi-ethnic school in Brooklyn.

The film is charming and uplifting as the two women learn that they have more in common with each other than either would have expected. They find friendship with each other, because they are both confronting similar issues with their parents and the secular world. They are also both undergoing the difficulty of trying to find a mate through their community's traditional systems of arranged marriage. While some of the characters come off as walking stereotypes (the Jewish matchmaker appears to be straight out of Fiddler on the Roof), the film for the most part does a sensitive job of portraying both Islam and Judaism in a very positive light. The film respects the women's genuine commitment to their faiths even as they struggle with difficult aspects of their faiths.

Arranged also shows the difficulties and prejudices that both women experience for being religiously observant from secular people (particularly the school's idiot principal). This latter subject is an important one that is rarely addressed in the secular film world where religion is too often mocked as irrational and oppressive - particular towards women - rather than understood on its own terms.

The acting and the script are sometimes uneven and there are moments that feel like an after school special. The conclusion is a bit too simplistic. But the message about both necessity and possibility of multi-religious co-existence is a good one presented with humor, warmth, and intelligence. In a world, where religion is often the basis of division and hatred, it is good to see a film that attempts to show that Jewish-Muslim co-existence is possible.