In Her Own Time: The Final Fieldwork of Barbara Myerhoff and Number Our Days

In Her Own Time: The Final Fieldwork of Barbara Myerhoff and Number Our Days

feminist, Jewish, ethnographic, documentary, woman filmmaker

Barbara Myerhoff, Lynne Littman

1985 and 1976

VHS

Documentary

Ethnographic Film

Anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff was studying the Jewish orthodox area of L.A. when she learned she had cancer. Filmmaker Lynne Littmean helped her continue the project and this resultingwork became a spiritual and social exploration of Judaism. In 1981, Professor Barbara Myerhoff began an anthropological study of the Fairfax district in Los Angeles. Fascinated by the influence of Orthodox Judaism in creating a community, she decided to make a film about this village in the heart of Los Angeles. In June of 1983, Dr. Myerhoff learned that she had cancer. She asked director Lynne Littman, with whom she had collaborated on the Academy Award-winning Number Our Days, to join the project, which she realized would probably be her last work. Throughout the research and filming of In Her Own Time, Dr. Myerhoff explored her own evolving relationship to Orthodox Judaism, revealing the continuing importance of religious traditions and practices for individuals and families today. More than simply urban or religious anthropology, In Her Own Time is a personal as well as a social exploration of enduring values and commitments that speaks to individuals from all ethnic traditions and walks of life. -Direct Cinema

A sensitive portrait of a community of elderly Eastern European Jews who, living by the Pacific Ocean in Venice, California, sustain their vivid culture in the face of poverty, loneliness, and extreme old age. Based on the book by the late Barbara Myerhoff. Best Short Documentary, 1976 Academy Awards. -- Jewish Film Institute

In Her Own Time
Based on the field work of Dr. Barbara Myerhoff, this is a documentary exploring the diverse Fairfax district Jewish Community in Los Angeles, California." (IMDB)

Number Our Days
A sensitive portrait of a community of elderly Eastern European Jews who, living by the Pacific Ocean in Venice, California, sustain their vivid culture in the face of poverty, loneliness, and extreme old age. Based on the book by the late Barbara Myerhoff. Best Short Documentary, 1976 Academy Awards. (Jewish Film Institute)

60 mins; 30 mins

Lynne Littman; Barbara Myerhoff

Lynne Littman

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