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There’s more to The Women’s Balcony than the American marketing machine has thus far presented. Billed as a feel good comedy of communal spirit — and correctly so — there are much weightier issues at play. This isn’t merely a farcical war between a synagogue’s female congregation and a new rabbi placing their demands behind his own. It’s also a keenly intuitive account of fundamentalist extremism in a forum we aren’t used to seeing. Too often Hollywood takes this concept and projects it upon terrorists killing in God’s name, but evidence of it also exists closer to home. No religion is immune to having its “rules” bent for specific purposes. Zealotry is cultivated only when the devout forget their humanity to seek God-like authority for themselves.

That’s hyperbolic insofar as my goal to describe this film’s success, but I believe it’s what...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Exclusive: Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up the North American rights to the drama “Green Is Gold,” written and directed by Ryon Baxter and starring Jimmy Baxter, Ryon Baxter and David Fine. The film recently had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the summer, where it won the Audience Award for Best Fiction Feature.

The film follows “a thirteen-year-old boy [who] is forced to live with his estranged brother after their father is sent to prison. Their relationship is soon tested when the older brother’s occupation as a marijuana dealer infringes on his ability not only to raise his brother, but to even take care of himself. However, through constant tribulation, they discover...

Menemsha Films has acquired North American rights to Israeli film The Women’s Balcony, while Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Son Of Joseph.

The Women’s Balcony recently received its world premiere in Toronto and stars Evelyn Hagoel, Igal Naor, Orna Banai, Einat Saruf, Itzik Cohen and Aviv Alush.

Pie Films and United King produced the story about female members of an Orthodox community who rally together after the collapse of the women’s balcony in a Jerusalem synagogue.

Emil Ben Shimon directed from a screenplay by Shlomit Nehama in their feature debut.

Menemsha Films brokered the deal with Pie Films and plans a theatrical release in the first quarter of 2017.

The film will open in Israel next week as the centrepiece film release for the Jewish holidays

“We just fell in love with this film from its first screening in Toronto,” said Menemsha’s Neil Friedman. “We are confident...