Artistic Statement

Modern-day Jewish prisoners are a hidden and ostracized segment of our nation's Jews. Many people in our society aren't even aware of their existence. It's a startling concept and one that's difficult for people to face, especially Jews.

RETURN (TESHUVA)  brings the subject of Jewish prisoners into public awareness and humanizes Jews who have gone astray.   We can learn a lot about ourselves by studying  the lives of others. Viewers may be surprised to discover that the film's subjects, Dana and Philip, despite having committed crimes, are more like themselves than they realize.

When we began filming 23 year old Dana, she was pregnant and incarcerated in a maximum security prison, one month away from giving birth to her baby daughter - alone - in a prison hospital.  Dana was born to a middle class Jewish family and attended Jewish day school. She was a successful student as well as editor of her high school newspaper. 

Phil is the 23 year old father of Dana's son, Elijah. He was released from jail the day before we first filmed him. He had been working closely with a volunteer prison rabbi to make ammends with his aunt from whom he had stolen. Coincidentally the rabbi had performed Phil's Bar Mitzvah ten years ago. Philip and the rabbi had plans to work on Phil's transformation. Unfortunately, Phil's aunt died unexpectedly a few days before his release,  Shortly after Phil's release, the rabbi suddenly died in Los Angeles, on his way back to see Philip. These two devastating losses sent Philip inot a downward spiral filled with loss, grief and guilt.

It is an honor and privilege to film the extraordinary stories of Dana, Philip and their family members, including Philip's first cousin, Martin, who is in prison on Death Row.

Your support is appreciated as we explore the universal themes of love, forgiveness, transformation and redemption.  Thank you.