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Next Film/Video | Visiting Filmmakers | Documentaries
Benny Zelkowicz in person
Columbus Premiere
$8 members and adults 55 and over$10 general public$5 students
For ticketing questions please call the Visitor Desk at (614) 292-3535.
If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation to participate in this event, please email accessibility@wexarts.org or call (614) 688-3890. Visit our Accessibility page to learn more.
This mesmerizing animated documentary provides a glimpse into a little-known end-of-life ritual in Jewish culture.
Benny Zelkowicz’s The Sacred Society uses interviews with local members of the Chevra Kadisha (a Jewish burial society) to explore their deep personal and philosophical reasons for engaging in such difficult work. Employing a highly tactile and visually poetic sand animation technique, the film recreates a tahara, the ritual cleansing of a body before burial, while interviews address the universal questions surrounding death.
Zelkowicz is the recipient of a 2024 Ohio Humanities Film Fellows at the Wexner Center grant, and the film was supported by the center’s Film/Video Studio. He has more than 20 years of experience as a character animator for such films and shows as The Lego Movie, The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and more. Zelkowicz is also a lecturer in Ohio State’s Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design.
Also included in the program are: The Erlking (2002), a sand animation adaptation of the Goethe poem; Made by Molly (2012); and Caroline Leaf’s landmark The Street (1976), a great influence on Zelkowicz.
Zelkowicz joins us for a Q&A following the program. (program approx. 75 mins.)
IMAGE CAPTIONThe Sacred Society, courtesy of the artist.
The Street (Caroline Leaf, 1976, 10 mins., DCP)
The Erlking (Benny Zelkowicz, 2002, 6 mins., 16mm)
Made by Molly (Benny Zelkowicz, 2010, 4 mins., DCP)
The Sacred Society (Benny Zelkowicz, 2025, 13 mins., DCP)
FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BYOhio Humanities
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BYRohauer Collection Foundation
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BYGreater Columbus Arts CouncilThe Wexner FamilyInstitute of Museum and Library ServicesMellon FoundationEvery Page FoundationOhio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the ArtsCampusParcNationwide FoundationLois S. and H. Roy Chope Fund of The Columbus FoundationThe Columbus FoundationAxium Packaging
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BYOhio History Fund/Ohio History ConnectionDavid Crane and Elizabeth DangLouise Lambert Braver
Next Film/Video
The Sacred Society and Other Shorts