ABOUT THE PROJECT
LOGLINE
A Jewish high school hockey team seeks to defend its title, while outside the rink, the coaches and players cope with the pressures of their close-knit Orthodox community.
SYNOPSIS
Forty years ago, cut off from secular sports, a few Modern Orthodox jocks fashioned their own form of hockey. Playing in cramped cafeterias with hand-me-down helmets, these Jewish athletes were content just to field a team. They never dreamed that their “made-up” game would spawn a subculture that the NY Times calls “a world unto itself.”
CHAI STICKING welcomes you to that world with an appealing, unorthodox look at the devout players and devoted fans of the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League.
After hoisting their first hockey trophy, the SAR Sting still have something to prove: if they can defend their 2018 title, they will join the elite of the Yeshiva League. But this season, SAR is the underdog, and familiar foes are out for revenge. At the helm are two charismatic and competitive brothers, Howie and Noah Falkenstein. With the seniors focused on college applications and a gap year in Israel, the coaches urge them to savor the season—Orthodox custom is to mate and marry young, so high school is a last hurrah. As they try to keep the team together, the brothers must balance their own major life changes: a newborn son, a first house, a surprising suspension.
In addition to the lively competition, the film showcases a rare segment of the religious spectrum: Orthodox Jews with one foot in modernity and the other in ancestral tradition. But the customs onscreen are not just Jewish—they are common to all cultures, regardless of religion. At a time of rising anti-Semitism, this film is an urgent corrective, an endearing slice-of-life account that emphasizes our similarities.
CHAI STICKING is written, directed, and produced by Daniel David and Aaron Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom’s previous film, Oh, Rick!, won the 2017 Audience Award at DOC NYC.
PROJECT TYPE Documentary Feature
DIRECTOR Daniel David, Aaron Rosenbloom
SCREENWRITER Daniel David, Aaron Rosenbloom
PRODUCER Daniel David, Aaron Rosenbloom