What the Movies Reveal About Jewish Sexuality

Film and television have become our most potent media for portraying sexuality, from gentle romance to erotic desire to full-throttle lust. But when it comes to Jewish characters on screen, the movies’ uninhibited love affair with sex gets complicated. In this fun and revealing clip-filled talk, film curator Peter L. Stein examines how Jewish sexuality and the Jewish body have been portrayed on screen. From tales of forbidden love in Orthodox settings (Yentl, Eyes Wide Open), to the neurotics and sexual overachievers of Woody Allen’s films, to the frontiers of queer sexuality in Sandra Bernhard’s characters and television’s Transparent, Jewish sex on screen has had to run a gauntlet of taboos, stereotypes and pigeonholes that make us wonder

Peter L. Stein is a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker and frequent film writer, programmer and presenter. A former Executive Director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival for eight years, he currently serves as Senior Programmer of Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival.