Elisabeth Vincentelli

New York Times

Nov 21, 2024

But we also watch [Lau-Lavie] talk about many events, like becoming a father or cofounding the aforementioned experimental Lab/Shul initiative, while he is still in the middle of experiencing them, rather than speaking with the benefit of hindsight.

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Ryan Lattanzio

IndieWire

Jun 17, 2024

B

Taking on multiple decades of the man’s life means this film loses its way sometimes amid a scattered approach, but Sabbath Queen shrewdly asks hard questions about what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century.

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Dennis Harvey

Variety

Jun 11, 2024

This fast-paced, well-shot doc does place its finger on the quickening pulse of an ever-wider gap between liberalizing Western social values and the Orthodox sphere that believes they are antithetical to Judaism.

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Sarah Vincent

Sarah G Vincent Views

Sep 8, 2025

The Darren Aronofsky film that you do not want to miss isn’t “Caught Stealing” (2025), but “Sabbath Queen” (2024), a documentary which Aronofsky served as executive producer.

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Christophe Bilien

Film Threat

Jan 7, 2025

9/10

Sabbath Queen constantly finds ways to renew our interest throughout its 105 minutes and does so with great intelligence and respect.

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Stephen Silver

The SS Ben Hecht

Jan 3, 2025

Filmed over more than 20 years, the film follows this fascinating figure through various changes in his own life, as well as in American Jewish life.

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Sandi Simcha DuBowski

Director

Francisco Bello

Writer

Sandi Simcha DuBowski

Writer

Jeremy Stulberg

Writer

Sandi Simcha DuBowski

Screenwriter

Jeremy Stulberg

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Synopsis

SABBATH QUEEN, a feature documentary filmed over 21 years, follows Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie's epic journey as the dynastic heir of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis including the Chief Rabbis of Israel. He is torn between rejecting and embracing his destiny and becomes a drag-queen rebel, a queer bio-dad and the founder of Lab/Shul--an everybody-friendly, God-optional, artist-driven, pop-up experimental congregation. SABBATH QUEEN joins Amichai on a lifelong quest to creatively and radically reinvent religion and ritual, challenge patriarchy and supremacy, champion interfaith love, and stand up for peace, ceasefire, and an end to the Occupation in Israel/Palestine. The film interrogates what Jewish survival means in a difficult rapidly changing 21st century.

Director: Sandi Simcha DuBowski
Producer: Sandi Simcha DuBowski
Screenwriter: Francisco Bello, Sandi Simcha DuBowski, Jeremy Stulberg, Sandi Simcha DuBowski, Jeremy Stulberg
Distributor: Roco Films
Production Co: Simcha Leib Productions
Genre: Documentary, Animation, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 22, 2024, Limited
Runtime: 1h 45m

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