Project Detail

Simcha

Synopsis

Simcha (meaning happiness) explores the closed world of Hasidic women through the life stories of a powerful mother/daughter team who live in the Jewish ultra-orthodox community of North London. Images of "women's work" - Ita and Hindi in the workplace and at home preparing the shabbos meal - depict the crucial role of the woman in Hasidic religious life and nurturing Jewish identity. A passionate and disturbingly-frank commentary.

Details

Year
2001
Type of project
Shorts
Running time
10 mins 55 secs
Format
16mm, Optical, Kodak
Director
Julia Dover
Producer
The London International Film School
Executive Producer
The London International Film School
Editor
Asim Ullah
Director of Photography
Shu-Hao Chou
Sound
Asim Ullah
Principal cast
Hindi Pesach, Ita Symons plus family

Production Status

Production Company

The London International Film School

Contact: Chrissy Bright
24 Shelton Street
London WC2H 9HP
UK

T +44 020 7836 9642

Sales Company

The London International Film School

Contact: Chrissy Bright
24 Shelton Street
London WC2H 9HP
UK

T +44 020 7836 9642

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Little Flowers Little Flowers

Director: Julia Dover

Year: 2002

Alma, anorexic, enters a hospital for treatment, and finds herself caught in the competitive games of the other patients. Their grip on her is loosened by her curiosity about the gardening handyman whom she watches through the windows. When the leader of the group bolts to kill herself, Alma hesitates.

The Scarlet Tunic The Scarlet Tunic

Director: Stuart St Paul

Year: 1998

In nineteenth century rural England, a German hussar serving with King George III's personal cavalry, Matthaus Singer, falls madly in love with Frances Groves, the only daughter of a West Country solicitor. Based on the short story 'The Melancholy Hussar' by Thomas Hardy

A smartly dressed woman and man sit side by side in a waiting  room, sharing a quiet smile. Marriage Test

Director: Sara Nourizadeh

Year: 2026

Set in a mosque waiting room in 1980s South Wales, and inspired by the true story of writer-director Sara Nourizadeh's parents, a young couple whose relationship crossed boundaries of culture, faith and expectation. At a time when Iranian politics dominated UK headlines and shaped public attitudes, a Welsh woman and her Iranian fiancé prepare for an Islamic conversion ceremony – a requirement they must fulfil if they are to marry. What follows is a quietly charged and emotionally intimate portrait of two people trying to navigate a moment that is both deeply personal and subtly political. As they wait for the ceremony to begin, small details – a trembling hand, a whispered joke, a fleeting moment of doubt – reveal the emotional stakes beneath the surface. Their conversation dances between humour and tension, affection and uncertainty, reflecting the push and pull of family pressures, cultural misunderstandings, and their own hopes for the future. Authentic VHS archive footage of the real couple is interwoven within this scripted drama, grounding the film in lived experience and offering an unexpectedly tender glimpse into the decades that followed.