Naming Prairie

Directed By Alexandra Juhasz

Two jewish lesbians hold a naming ceremony for their baby in a melding of old customs and new ideas.

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Over its short duration, NAMING PRAIRIE makes a strong statement about how our oldest traditions can be modified to reflect the new faces of Judaism. The short celebrates Jewish family, tradition, and ritual while acknowledging the real flexibility within all three of these institutions. This joyous recounting of a lesbian couple’s babynaming ceremony for their daughter, Prairie, also introduces a supportive and diverse network of family and friends who participate in


Dr. Alexandra Juhasz is Distinguished Professor of Film at Brooklyn College, CUNY. She has directed the feature documentaries SCALE: Measuring Might in the Media Age (2008), Video Remains (2005), Dear Gabe (2003) and Women of Vision: 18 Histories in Feminist Film and Video (1998), and the shorts RELEASED: 5 Short Videos about Women and Film (2000) and Naming Prairie (2001), a Sundance Film Festival, 2002, official selection. She is the producer of the feature films, The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1997) and The Owls (Dunye, 2010). She is the producer of the shorts DiAna's Hair Ego Remix (Dunye and Ellen Spiro, 2017), Bad Bosses Go to Hell (Erin Cramer, 1997) and I Want to Leave a Legacy: The video/activism of Juanita Mohammed Szczepasnki (Juanita Szczepanski, 2023). Dr. Juhasz is the producer of educational videotapes on feminist issues from AIDS to teen pregnancy. Her work as an activist videomaker began in 1987 with three tapes for GMHC's Living with AIDS cable show: Women and AIDS (1987 with Jean Carlomusto), Prostitutes, Risk, and AIDS (1988) and A Test for the Nation: Women, Children, Families, AIDS (1988). The collectively made We Care: A Video for Care Providers of People Affected by AIDS (The Women's AIDS Video Enterprise, 1990) has maintained an active profile in activist circles. Dr. Juhasz writes about and makes feminist, queer, fake, and AIDS documentary. Her current work attends to fake news, poetry, online feminist pedagogy, YouTube, and more.

Sundance

Frameline

Outfest

SF Jewish Film Festival

Conematographer: Michelle Crenshae

Actor: Hali Hutchison-Hammer

Actor: Margie Hutchison-Hammer

Actor: Cheryl Dunye

Actor: Alexandra Juhasz