Selected work / In the Name of the Father
In the Name of the Father
Documentary Series & TV Special · Lead Editor
Overview
The son of a revered and controversial rabbi from Brooklyn reveals the truth about the extreme and isolated community his father led and the atrocities that occurred there and continue to this day.
Objectives
- Preserve the intimate family core while dealing with a charged public figure.
- Move fluidly between past and present without losing emotional orientation.
- Balance empathy and critical distance toward the father's legacy.
- Give voice to survivors while maintaining their dignity.
Contributions
- Dual Narrative Structure
- Built the series around two parallel journeys - the father's public career and the son's personal reckoning - allowing them to echo and collide at key moments.
- Archival as Memory
- Treated archival footage and home videos not as illustration but as subjective memories, using repetitions, reframing and sound design to show how the past is re-experienced.
- Emotional Pacing
- Carefully mapped emotional peaks and releases so that confrontations, revelations and moments of quiet reflection land with maximum weight.
Outcome
The series was received as a nuanced portrait of a complex family and a generation, praised for its emotional honesty and sophisticated structure.
Awards & recognition
Journalism award winner at Sandford St Martin Awards
Credits
- Creators: Bat-Dor Ojalvo, Yoav Leshem, Gal Goffer
- Director: Bat-Dor Ojalvo
- Producer: Yoav Leshem
- Cinematography: Avner Shahaf, Or Even-Tov
- Music: Asher Goldschmidt