Bergmensch | JFI Online Short: February 2025
This month’s online short is Bergmensch directed by Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky.
Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky, 2021, United States, 10 minutes, English
About the film: In this narrative short, a young man attends a strange Sabbath dinner with his parents.
Watch the film and read an interview with the director Jordan Tetewsky below.
Jewish Film Institute: Tell us about your collaborative partnership (with co-director Joshua Pikovsky), and how it began?
Jordan Tetewsky: We both grew up together and bonded over stories and movies. We started out playing in various iterations of bands and both grew into two friends that would write and work on projects.
JFI: What was your inspiration for this very Jewish dinner experience?
JT: We both grew up in a heavily reformed community, and wanted to make a feverish film inspired by paintings we had seen around Jewish homes that depicted family dinners. Often dark and ominous with deep blacks and oranges- works that would fit alongside Goya’s black paintings. We can’t recall whose works they were, but we know they exist and had a very haunting effect.
JFI: Joseph’s connection to his grandfather in the film is understated but one of the most important. Can you talk about crafting their relationship?
JT: Joseph and his grandfather share feelings and judgements about what their family dynamic has become- a lot of brash and petty behavior.
About the Filmmakers: Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky are friends who grew up together. As they developed, they found their tastes frequently aligning in both film and music, and worked together on a series of shorts and three feature films.
About JFI Online Shorts: JFI Online Shorts features one new short film each month from emerging and established filmmakers. Since 2009, JFI has showcased over 100 online shorts and garnered worldwide views over 2 million on the JFI Youtube channel. Learn more at www.jfi.org.
