A Golem Called Sydney

‘A Golem called Sydney’ addresses the complex nature of identity and belonging within a diasporic community. One often perceived as a single, unified entity. In the context of long-standing tensions and sectarian divides within the Jewish community that are being exacerbated by international geopolitical conflict.

‘A Golem called Sydney’ addresses the need for nuanced and informed approaches to understanding, relating to, and living within the Jewish diaspora. It hopes to foster conversations about the importance of community and empathy by modelling space for a diversity of thought within and around the Jewish community. Our film asks that the audience deconstruct their assumptions about themselves and people that are ‘other’.

Following the December attacks on Bondi, ‘A Golem called Sydney’ has become a piece of reflective celebration for the Jewish community. It aims to address antisemitism within Australia by showcasing the Jewish diaspora as wide and complex.

‘A Golem called Sydney’ challenges the idea of a generalised identity within communities, and explores the internal divides within a deeply complex diaspora. Although viewed through the lens of the Jewish diaspora, the documentary asks individuals to unpack the foundational forces that create and limit, senses of self in all communities.

Our focus on the Jewish community in particular targets alternate topics of antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the ‘correct’ usage of words like ‘Zionism’, ‘genocide’, and ‘apartheid’. Our vision is to foster a conversation within and beyond the Australia’s Jewish communities, offering viewers a chance to thoughtfully engage with multiple viewpoints, at a distance from the heat of the moment, and in the context of our own efforts to understand Judaism as a creative practice that weaves and enshrines multiple viewpoints together over time.
We create a space to unpack shared grief as beliefs which are fraught with old dangers and new conflicts.

Our film has 3 main impact goals:

To foster community building within the Jewish diaspora. Creating a safe space to invite nuanced conversations and a place of empathy for Jewish individuals to explore their own culture through diverse lenses.

To challenge the generalisation Jewish experience. The exploration of multiple perspectives aims to end the assumption that the Jewish culture is singular. Inviting outsiders to understand the tapestry of the Jewish community, and to recalibrate their own prejudices.

To use the symbolic figure of the Golem as an expansive and resonant way to explore the nature of identity as experiences, cultures, ethnicities, practices, and beliefs, from across time – collaged into the present moment.

We hope that the image of the Golem will prompt viewers to question their own ‘Golem’ of self and what its limitations might be. We pose the question, if you could create a being of power, what would you have it do? What might it represent?

Both our director, Jacob Gottlieb and our executive producer Karen Pearlman, are Jewish and have direct ties to the community. Having been raised in Bondi, Jacob in particular is embedded in the network of viewpoints that are, in very diverse ways, vocal, visible, or invested in the Jewish community of Sydney.

‘A Golem Called Sydney’ calls its audience to consider their own biases, blind spots and the disparities within their communities – all with empathy. We ask on our audience to engage with and understand Jewish communities, not as an ‘other’, but as a cohesive
part of Australia’s multicultural landscape.

We hope to inspire honest, constructive conversations around the nature of identity and how it shapes our views of conflicts both personal and global.

Through a guided encounter with Jewish Mysticism, we invite our audience to consider their culture – especially Abrahamic and/or bible-based cultures – with curiosity and a deeper appreciation for what being human is and could be.