Feb 20

Feb 20 A Recap of Rewind The Documentary — #AJFF20

A few nights ago, I had the privilege of seeing an unforgettably chilling, yet triumphant documentary called Rewind at the 2020 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival! Rewind is a rather disturbing documentary about a young Jewish-American man named Sasha Joseph Neulinger who finds himself combing through an innumerable collection of family videos recorded by his dad. This now adult Sasha, narrates his life as a child “in rewind” beginning from the early days where he was a seemingly happy young boy, bright-eyed and care-free to an angry child who speaks very casually about wanting to commit suicide. The film so appropriately titled gives its viewers a visual depiction of this very sad downward spiral with Sasha amidst secrets, family incest and namely, sexual/ psychological child abuse. The content of this film still speaks vividly to me since the that night’s screening and proves to be a totally gripping and heartfelt subject. Sasha takes us through the grueling pages of his life from A - Z and more importantly, he shows us what true courage and restored self-worth looks like.

Following the screening that night, there was a highly informative Q&A session facilitated by Terri Bonoff (CEO JF&CS), Ula Zusman (JF&CS Nationally Certified Counselor), Dan Arnold (JF&CS Director of Clinical Services, & Dave Moody (Owner of CD Moody Construction Co., Sexual Abuse Survivor/ Spokesperson). The questions from the audience seemed to flow very divinely as the panelists provided us with the absolute best insight into victim/ abuser realities and they responded impeccably to our questions regarding the film and its sensitive content. Needless to say, I left out feeling more educated on the subject of sexual child abuse and inspired to be advocate for those so affected.