A KADDISH FOR BERNIE MADOFF is the story of an underground musician who becomes obsessed with Bernie Madoff's massive financial fraud and finds herself inside a real-life meta-musical investigation about trust, deception and healing. A hybrid of musical memoir and narrative fantasy, A KADDISH FOR BERNIE MADOFF tells the story of Madoff and the system that allowed him to function for decades through the eyes of singer-songwriter Alicia Jo Rabins, who – after being given access to an abandoned office on Wall Street for a music studio – watches the financial crash unfold from her 9th floor studio window. Fueled by her growing obsession, real-life interviews transform into music videos, ancient spiritual texts become fevered fantasies of synchronized swimming, and a vivid, vulnerable work of art is born from the unique perspective of an artist watching the global financial collapse up close.
Filmmaker Alicia J. Rose has directed over 3 dozen music videos for artists like First Aid Kit, Cake and Bob Mould as well as visually branding popular bands like The Decemberists and many others with her imaginative portraiture, and creating a growing amount of striking commercial work. Her approach to directing utilizes her unique sense of visual style, grounded humor and snappy storytelling to deliver authentic narratives that resonate deeply with viewers.
Scripted comedic web series “The Benefits of Gusbandry” was her first foray into digital episodic storytelling and over its two seasons received wide acclaim from press outlets like The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, A/V Club, PASTE, OUT and others. Her feature directorial debut - hybrid narrative/musical "A Kaddish For Bernie Madoff" was an official selection at the New York Jewish Film Festival, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Europe's Black Nights of Film and won both the Narrative Audience Award at the 2021 Ashland Independent Film Festival and the Best New Directors Award at the 2021 Port Townsend Film Festival. She is currently directing/editing "Girls in Trouble TV" a new episodic project in collaboration with "Kaddish" star Alicia Jo Rabins.
