YidLife Crisis
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“Good memories in the Motor Shtetl”
– Jamie Elman & Eli Batalion, YidLife Crisis
Project Overview
I produced and co-directed a rowdy two-part travelog docuseries, Global Shtetl, for the award-winning comedy duo YidLife Crisis in Detroit, Michigan in Winter 2018. My co-director, Emmy Award-winning Filmmaker and Editor Michael Elliot, came in from NYC to help guide us through this two-day shoot. With visits to local heritage sites and fresh new joints alike, the comedic pair shine a light on Jewish Detroit for the world to see.
Execution
The vision for Global Shtetl Detroit began when I invited the duo to present a Chanukah comedy show in Detroit, sponsored by the Jewish Community Center of Detroit. Eli and Jamie‘s popular web series, in which they ingeniously riff on the classic contradictions of Jewish life and religion in a modern world – but completely in Yiddish with English subtitles! - had already begun to attract critical acclaim. I knew Detroit had a rich Jewish history and story to tell, so the match was an easy one to make!
I coordinated with nearly a dozen different local organizations, Jewish-owned small businesses, and heritage sites to plan an action-packed trip. From a culinary circuit to the kosher Kravings Deli and the decidely-un-kosher-but-nevertheless-Jewishly-proud Monger's Provisions all the way to the historic Detroit Schvitz Sauna Club (which I profiled for Detroit Jewish News a few years earlier), we kept the gentlemen busy and the camera crew moving quickly!
Under the skillful editing of Evan Denomme and Lizz Cardwell, we transformed this visit into two episodes that pay homage to the beauty and contradictions of Jewish Detroit. Looking back post-COVID – we had to premiere the 2nd episode virtually in 2020 to a live Zoom audience - the entire production was a beautiful testament to the real, in-person lifeblood of yiddishkeit in the Motor Shtetl.
Results
Our Global Shtetl Detroit was received excitedly by an audience local, national, and international when each episode debuted in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and has garnered over 20,000 views on Youtube and a similarly-sized parallel viewership across various social media channels. Collectively, hundreds of Detroiters, expat Detroiters, and curious others have chimed in with comments – inevitably citing one of the destinations we highlighted with nostalgia or intrigue.
The cohort of organizations and businesses we highlighted have all indicated that the episode brought much-appreciated attention to their efforts to reach more Jews and non-Jews alike both locally and beyond, and we continue to see ricochet effects of the episodes on the national Jewish scene. Most importantly, the production engendered a true sense of hometown pride for Jewish Detroit as embodied in this passionate Youtube commenter's Yiddish-language reaction:
“דיטראָיט איז נישט קיין שטעטל, דיטראָיט איז אַ שטאָט.”
“Detroit isn't a town, Detroit is a city!”
– @FermatWiles, Youtube
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