Director Joshua Weinstein’s camerawork credits include The New York Times, PBS, several Coors Light commercials and a few documentaries. Menashe—which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and was acquired by A24 for distribution in the U.S. and China—is Weinstein’s first feature fiction film. Set in the isolated ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, the film—entirely in Yiddish—tells the story of a widower struggling for custody of his son within a tradition that demands a mother in every family. Menashe is unique not only because it’s in Yiddish but because its actors are not career actors; they are members of the Hasidic community. The plot itself is based roughly on the experience of Menashe Lustig, who plays the film’s title character. Moment speaks with Joshua Weinstein. What prompted you to make this story a feature fiction...

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