{"id":19696,"date":"2016-06-24T00:30:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T07:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=19696"},"modified":"2016-06-22T18:37:46","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T01:37:46","slug":"embarking-on-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/06\/24\/embarking-on-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Embarking on career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rami Katz (photo from Rami Katz)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Fish Soup<\/em>, a 10-minute documentary by Vancouver-based filmmaker Rami Katz, screened at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival last month.<\/p>\n

The film is an exploration of Katz\u2019s family and their cultural traditions through the making of a fish soup. He has also submitted the documentary to the Vancouver Jewish Film Centre for consideration in its annual festival, which takes place in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was this program that motivated me to go on to film school at Simon Fraser University,\u201d Katz told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cAt the time, there were no documentary courses being offered, so my undergraduate film school experience was mostly in narrative filmmaking. But, in my third year, I interned for John Zaritsky, a veteran documentary filmmaker, and he ended up hiring me after I graduated. He has kept in touch as a friend and a mentor ever since, and has definitely been a huge inspiration to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the industry itself, Katz has been influenced by professors, peers and his studies at the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been an enriching experience to spend time with like-minded individuals who share similar passions for documentary film,\u201d he said. \u201cIn 2014, I decided to go back to school to pursue an MFA in film production at UBC, which would allow me to grow and develop as a filmmaker, creatively and intellectually, and dedicate myself more fully to my own personal work. I made Fish Soup<\/em> in a documentary class at UBC, taught by Cari Green and Bruce Spangler, both nurturing and supportive teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fish Soup<\/em> was developed after Katz told his partner, Sarah Sheridan, a humorous story about his father. After hearing the anecdote, Sheridan suggested that Katz make a film about it. He liked the idea of working on a personal project, as he had never before even considered making a documentary about his own life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody has a family recipe and everyone has a family story, so this film kind of taps into that and, hopefully, gets people thinking about their own stories they want to share. For me, this was also a way for me to connect to my own grandfather, whom I was named after but never got a chance to meet because he died before I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Toronto Jewish Film Festival screening of Fish Soup<\/em>, Katz was able to include both Sheridan and his brother Raphael in the event. After the screening at the Royal Ontario Museum, Katz and his family were treated to a Shabbat dinner at the Free Times Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Though highly inclusive of both his family and his colleagues, Katz said creative control was paramount to successfully completing the documentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, for a personal film, creative control is hugely important. It\u2019s especially important if it\u2019s a passion project, if you\u2019re not getting paid to make it. It\u2019s important to note here that my crew wasn\u2019t getting paid as well, and they are putting in a lot of hours and energy and were hugely influential in the creation of the film. Sarah helped a lot with the initial concept and project logistics. She truly was a driving force behind the film and I couldn\u2019t have made it without her help and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz also expressed his gratitude to Ben Leyland, William Drobetsky and Felix Oltean.<\/p>\n

When asked how Fish Soup<\/em> touches on the importance of upholding familial traditions and values within the larger Jewish culture, Katz said, \u201cI\u2019m not very religious, but a lot of the cultural aspects of Judaism and some of the traditions are important for me. I like to celebrate the holidays and, for the past eight months or so, I\u2019ve been observing Shabbat in my own way. Sarah and I recently hosted our first Passover seder, and we\u2019re starting to do Shabbat dinners every now and then with friends. I think this film helped me to connect with my cultural roots and observe aspects of Judaism that are most meaningful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz is currently filming his master of fine arts thesis film at UBC \u2013 a documentary on the life and work of Vancouverite Jack O\u2019Dell, 93, who was an influential figure within the African-American civil rights movement.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Dick<\/strong> is a freelance writer living in Toronto. His writing has appeared in the <\/em>Canadian Jewish News, and various other publications in Canada and the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rami Katz (photo from Rami Katz) Fish Soup, a 10-minute documentary by Vancouver-based filmmaker Rami Katz, screened at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival last month. The film is an exploration of Katz\u2019s family and their cultural traditions through the making of a fish soup. He has also submitted the documentary to the Vancouver Jewish Film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[6010,6008,6007,6009],"class_list":["post-19696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-documentary","tag-film-festival","tag-rami-katz","tag-tjff"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}