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will be shot mostly in Ann Arbor with a
few scenes in Toronto. He plans to stick
to the slim budget — which includes
$25,000 of his own cash — by direct-
ing, editing and producing the film
himself, with the help of a local crew.
Raising enough cash to produce a
movie is hardly the kind of thing most
twentysomethings worry about. But
then again, Leuchter has never been
very much of a regular kind of a guy.
Leuchter started at Akiva Hebrew
Day School in Southfield, moved on
to Hillel Day School in Farmington
Hills and graduated from West
Bloomfield High School. He then
earned a bachelor of arts degree in reli-
gion from the University of Michigan.
It was while attending the Big 10
school that Leuchter began his romance
with film. After taking a few classes to
broaden his knowledge in the art form,
he took an intense summer cinematog-
raphy class at New York University. The
experience convinced him to devote
more time ro this new passion while he
earned a master's degree in religion at
the University of Toronto Center for the
Study of Religion.
"I didn't see why my two interests
had to be mutually exclusive," said
Leuchter, who is now a doctoral student
at the same university. He is analyzing
biblical text in light of historical events.
"Religion is at times the key to open
the dramatic door," Leuchter said,
alluding to a number of religious
themes in movies. The search for the
Holy Grail turned up in Indiana Jones
and the Temple of Doom, said Leuchter,
and similarities exist between the life
of ET and the earth life of Jesus.
Leuchter's own short film, Seal of
Approval, tells the story of a grad stu-
dent on the cusp of getting his Ph.D.
in religion and cinema who is faced
with an ethical dilemma during his
doctoral exams. The film was screened
in September at the Michigan Theater
in Ann Arbor as part of the Michigan .
Filmmaker Outreach Project (MFOP).
Leuchter was able to combine his two
loves when he was tapped by producer
Simcha Jacobovici to work as chief
researcher on "Hollywoodism: Jews,
Movies and the American Dream," a
recent documentary release on Canada's
CBC nerwork and the Arts &
Entertainment (A&E) channel.
Working on the film was a lesson in
and of itself for the young film auteur,
who admits to having seen about
1,200 films while in college. Leuchter
learned that making a documentary is
more "painstaking and difficult" work
than feature making.
"With a documentary, you are not
going to get [the scene] until you get
it," he said, recalling hours of labor
being tossed to the cutting room floor
because the theme of the project shift-
ed slightly within a day's work.
But the experience did not dissuade
Leuchter from continuing with this
kind of filmmaking. When Jacobovici
later learned of Leuchter's studies, he
pulled him into another project as
associate writer and production coor-
dinator for "The Quest for the. Lost
Tribes." This work, shot in Middle
and Far East locales, delves into the
theories regarding the fates of the lost
tribes of Israel and comes up with pos-
sible explanations.
Leuchter, the son of Dr. William
and Beverly Leuchter, finished work
on the film before returning to his
doctoral studies in Toronto this fall.
He plans to attend the world premiere
of Jacobovici's film on Nov. 22 at the
Toronto Jewish Community Center, a
benefit event for the Canadian Shaare
Zedek Hospital Foundation and the
nearby Riverdale JCC.
The film also will be shown in March
on A&E, the CBC in Canada and on
Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.
After concluding his studies,
Leutcher said he hopes to incorporate
what he's learned about religion and
fulfill his career aspirations in film,
making movies that not only entertain
people but also affect them long after
the credits have rolled.
He cites Orson Welles' The Third
Man as his favorite film. "It's a top-
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Python and the Holy Grail.
"My goal isn't to be a screenwriter,"
he continued. "I want to be a film-
maker. If I can accomplish that, that is
all I want to do."
"The Quest for the Lost Tribes"
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rate thriller, but it is also a very subtle
study of the human capacity for evil,"
he said. "The film represents the type
of work I emulate: It is the epitome of
commercial yet aesthetically sound
filmmaking, which is why it's my
favorite. A very close second is Monty
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Detroit Jewish News
1998
93