In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Israel discussed making two Jewish films back-to-back, why Jewish characters come naturally to her as a writer and director, and why, even after October 7, she believes audiences are ready for stories that celebrate Jewish community as much as they confront Jewish vulnerability.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t set out and decide I\u2019m only going to make Jewish content, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m only going to make Jewish content,\u201d she said. And yet, her two latest movies, plus the 2017 love story \u201cKeep the Change,\u201d all have what she calls a \u201cstrong Jewish element.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of rolled into being,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The films also rolled into being at a time when antisemitism is on the rise and anti-Israel fervor over the Gaza war has put Jews on the defensive. In interviews for \u201cThe Floaters,\u201d<\/a> the director agreed that she hoped to provide an alternative image of \u201cJewish joy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Floaters\u201d is a comedy about a Jewish summer camp, starring Jackie Tohn, from the very Jewish Netflix hit \u201cNobody Wants This,\u201d as a would-be rock star hired to supervise a group of misfit campers, the \u201cfloaters\u201d of the title. \u201cInfluenced\u201d is the story of a newly divorced Manhattan Jewish mother (Jill Kargman) who tries to climb the ranks of the Upper East Side influencer scene, while also helping her twin children prepare for their bar and bat mitzvah.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Floaters\u201d was shot first, and \u201cInfluenced\u201d second. \u201cThe Floaters\u201d is currently in theaters, with a video-on-demand release expected later this year. \u201cInfluenced\u201d is currently available for rental from Apple, Amazon and other providers.<\/p>\n In addition to their lead actresses, the films also have very Jewish casts. \u201cThe Floaters\u201d features Seth Green, Steve Guttenberg and pro wrestler Maxwell Jacob Friedman. \u201cInfluenced\u201d features David Krumholtz \u2014\u00a0as an unhoused onetime rock star who collects bar mitzvah shirts \u2014 Justin Bartha and Dan Hedaya. Judd Goodstein and Ellie Biron play the two b\u2019nai mitzvah kids and Gwyneth Paltrow also makes a cameo.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way I approach it is, I\u2019m grateful for the bounty when there\u2019s bounty,\u201d she said of having the chance to make two movies back-to-back.<\/p>\n The same goes for family. \u201cI was pregnant while filming \u2018The Floaters,\u2019 and we reached some sort of milestone in the edit, and then I delivered,\u201d Israel said. \u201cThen my daughter was 4 months old when we went into production on \u2018Influenced.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s five children are between the ages of 2 and 9, and on several occasions she enjoyed the chance to bring a child with her for \u201ca weekend date with mama\u201d to one of the festivals where her films have screened. In an industry famously inhospitable to women directors and working moms<\/a>, she and her husband, producer and filmmaker Kurt Enger, have made it work.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have filmmaking parents, I think it\u2019s really a family effort to support that career, because I was away from them for a while in making both films, and so it was great to bring them to see the work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Floaters\u201d was shot at Camp Tel Yehudah in Barryville, New York, in the Catskills, the same camp where the producers\u2019 parents met. The film features a wide variety of Jewish types, from kosher-enforcing kitchen staff to a group of outsider-ish kids to a female rabbi (played by Aya Cash).<\/p>\n Israel didn\u2019t attend Jewish summer camp, but relished the opportunity to immerse herself in the culture.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was wonderful to have that, to be shooting in this real location and kind of have all of the texture of the place to feel fully authentic on screen and permeate the experience. I felt through making it that I absorbed some of what camp is like,\u201d she said of \u201cThe Floaters.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel has much more experience with New York City, where \u201cInfluenced\u201d was filmed on location. A New Jersey native who spent many formative years in Florida and attended the Rhode Island School of Design, she has been based in New York since beginning graduate school at Columbia University, where she earned an MFA in 2013.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, shooting \u201cInfluenced\u201d also involved a learning curve.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not even on social media,\u201d she said. She enjoyed the opportunity to approach that world with \u201cfresh eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKeep the Change,\u201d her first feature, was based on her own short of the same name, which she developed <\/a>in grad school at Columbia. That film is set in part at a Manhattan Jewish community center.<\/p>\n The film, she said, was \u201cbased on people I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n And while \u201cInfluenced\u201d is not \u201ccentrally\u201d a Jewish film, its characters are clearly Jewish, and it has a \u201cstrong Jewish thread.\u201d At their climactic bar\/bat mitzvah party, the kids reference the idea in Genesis that all humans are created \u201cb\u2019tzelem Elohim \u2014 in the image of God\u201d and are inspired by that lesson to create a charity to help the downtrodden.<\/p>\n \u201cInfluenced\u201d had its world premiere at the Miami Jewish Film Festival in January, while \u201cThe Floaters\u201d had its Southeast US premiere at the same festival, after having its world premiere at the Bentonville (Arkansas) Film Festival in June 2025. Both films have spent some time on the Jewish film festival circuit, a process that Israel enjoyed.<\/p>\n
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