a gu ide to s imc ha hs
Immortalized
n 1m
Top:
Paul Schmitz
of Windsor,
seated,
dressed up as
B'nai mitzvah mini-movies capture the experience.
an old man for
his specially
produced bar
mitzvah DVD.
Suzanne Chessler I Contributing Writer
hen Paul Schmitz was pre-
paring for his bar mitzvah
last December, he won-
dered how he would look back on his
life in later years as an old man.
What would he remember about the
people close to him? What would he
consider important experiences in a life-
time buoyed by changing technology?
Would his bar mitzvah really have
been a turning point?
Those serious thoughts actually were
expressed through a light-hearted dra-
matization in a bar mitzvah DVD, which
was shown to guests who had attended
services at Congregation Beth El in
Windsor and went on to the party at the
St. Clair College Centre for the Arts in
the city.
The DVD was planned with Marshall
Sfalcin, a Canadian freelance writer,
director and producer who does com-
mercial work and describes it at www.
marshallsfalcin.com . His core projects
are done for independent films, televi-
sion shows and commercials.
"When my older son, Seth, had his
bar mitzvah, we did a presentation with
pictures and music," recalls mom Marla
Schmitz. "I wanted to do something a
little bit different, and I had seen one of
Marshall's bar mitzvah projects.
"We all got together with Marshall
and came up with the idea of having
Paul dress up as an old man to show
the pictures we wanted to share with
our guests.
"The end of the DVD became a
sequence in which Paul is shown waking
up from a dream. The trunk he had been
W
C2 0
celebrate! I
looking through to find the pictures
and the techno equipment is filled with
Purim costumes."
Marla Schmitz says the DVD was a
hit with her guests, who were given snow
globes with their names instead of place
cards, connecting with a snow globe
shown in the DVD.
"When the lights came up after the
DVD, the dancing started, and my hus-
band, Michael, and I joined right in,"
Schmitz recalls.
Sfalcin, who has done about six bar
mitzvah DVDs, tries to make each one
entertaining while picking up on the
traditions associated with the religious
observance.
He came up with the idea for an
old man looking back after seeing the
snow globes, which reminded him of the
movie Citizen Kane, in which the main
character looks at a snow globe and
then looks back on his life.
"I try to capture what the bar mitzvah
experience means to each 13-year-old,"
says Sfalcin, who has been working on
independent films and television shows
since 2001.
Sfalcin, who has produced the cable
series Ten Dollar Tales with an estimated
viewership of 160,000, is not Jewish but
has become acquainted with religious
practices through friends.
The idea for doing serio-comic bar
mitzvah DVDs developed as Sfalcin was
asked to think up innovative ideas for
a DVD being planned by one family he
knew. As he took on projects, word of his
work spread.
"We used the Moses story to tell
March 2012
the story of one bar mitzvah," Sfalcin
recalls. "All the members of the family
represented biblical characters as we
told about the boy at the center of the
celebration."
Sfalcin, whose commercials have
been shown around Windsor and Detroit,
wants to make sure that each DVD
includes family photos and makes the
bar mitzvah traditions understandable
for guests of other religions.
Sfalcin meets with each family to
come up with relevant and creative
ideas, writes a script or scene script
without dialogue if the family is willing
to adlib and continues the collaboration
throughout the filming process, which
can capture the family at home or other
places.
He does each filming with high-
definition equipment, adds music and
sometimes special effects, takes care
of the editing and supplies the DVD for
party presentation. Costs and production
time depend on the complexity of each
storyline.
Jacqueline Goldman-Hida, now living
in Calgary, arranged for a Fiddler on the
Roof parody celebrating the bar mitzvah
of her son, Ari, at Congregation Beth El
in Windsor.
"I thought the DVD was a fun way
to incorporate the traditions into the
party," Goldman-Hida explains. "I believe
it really made kids interested in things
they may not be thinking about."
At Ari's party, the DVD was shown just
before the lighting of the candles, and
then guests went into singing and danc-
ing. That celebration was three years
Left:
Paul at
Congregation
Beth El in
Windsor.
ago, and the family enjoys being able
to watch the dramatization whenever
they like.
"The DVD allowed us to give a mod-
ern twist to our traditions," Goldman-
Hida says. "I think it's so important to
hold on to those traditions in a modern
era."
Dana and Larry Horwitz of Windsor
arranged for DVDs celebrating the b'nai
mitzvah of their sons Noah and Aidin,
both at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield but with different party halls.
For Noah, three years ago, the theme
had to do with exploring careers he
could pursue. For Aidin, just last year,
the theme involved his decision to face
growing up.
Aidin's DVD now can be seen on
YouTube.
"People are still talking about Aidin's
film," Dana Horwitz says. "We hear from
friends of friends who have watched it
on the Web. Our daughter Talya, almost
2, loves seeing herself with family in
the DVD and giggles each time we run
it." 1-1