The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Film

In our increasingly mediated world, the "people of the book" have become the "people of the screen." This evolution makes Jewish Film Studies a far richer field than the name would suggest. The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Film captures the current state of the field while charting new directions. The volume challenges the field's traditional geographic and conceptual boundaries. Chapters expand beyond well-established American, Israeli, and Holocaust cinema to include new studies of Jews in Indian and Arab cinemas, Ethiopian and Turkish Jewish representation, alongside fresh perspectives on British, Mexican, Soviet, and Polish Jewish films.

Moving beyond the field's predominantly secular focus, the volume foregrounds the exploration of Judaism on screen—its rituals, beliefs, and observant communities—alongside Jewishness as culture, history, and peoplehood. It ventures into unexplored areas, from Haredi women filmmakers to Jewish horror figures, from on-screen female rabbis to the rise of Jewish film festivals. The result is a more capacious understanding of Jewish cinema as a global interpretive mode rather than a fixed set of themes.

Thirty-eight chapters by leading international scholars, written in clear, engaging prose, make The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Film ideal for classroom use alongside its value as a comprehensive scholarly resource. It is essential reading for scholars and students, as well as for anyone interested in cinema, religion, and global Jewish life.