Sandi DuBowski

Sandi DuBowski is a director and producer who has made numerous films emphasizing the relationship between LGBTQ identity and religion. His first full-length film, Trembling Before G-d (2001), was widely recognized as the first documentary film focusing on queer Orthodox Jews within their religious communities. Born in 1970 and raised by a Conservative Jewish family in Brooklyn, DuBowski’s work emphasizes the inherent links between sexuality and religion, providing documentary spaces for these ties to be studied. DuBowski’s activism extends beyond film, having worked for Planned Parenthood from 1994-1996 as a research assistant and serving as a board member with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

Raised in an almost entirely Jewish neighborhood, DuBowski’s early life was shaped by both cultural and religious Jewishness. He attended Yeshiva preschool and kindergarten in Brighton Beach, but soon went on to attend public school for the remainder of his education, graduating from Hunter College High School in Manhattan. He attended Harvard University as a Social Studies Major, serving as the co-chair of the Bi, Gay, and Lesbian Students’ Association.

His first film, Tomboychik (1993), centered the relationship between DuBowski and his 88-year-old grandmother, coming together as a series of vignettes in a documentary format. While Tomboychik played with Judaism and cultural identity, it wasn’t until Trembling Before G-d that DuBowski felt he was deeply engaging in Judaism again, possibly for the first time since his own bar mitzvah. Moving back into his parents’ home after college inspired this turn. DuBowski reflects on his queer discovery as a kind of archaeology of the self— discovering one’s queer identity sets into motion a larger study of self, which often prompts analysis of community. Growing up in an all Jewish neighborhood, DuBowski found himself increasingly curious about the presence of homosexuality in the Orthodox world. His initial research led him to realize the depth and severity of the story, understanding the responsibility that its telling would hold.

Trembling Before G-d, through interviews and collected footage, follows a collection of gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews (many only profiled in silhouette to protect anonymity), as well as psychologists and rabbis, including Rabbi Steven Greenberg. Production took six years and interviews were often kept quiet for the protection of the subjects. DuBowski finished the film at age 30 and describes its impact as “seismic.” It is acknowledged today as a tipping point surrounding the issue of queerness in Orthodox Judaism, influencing parents to resume contact with children they’d previously cut off and prompting more Orthodox Jews to come out. DuBowski launched the Orthodox Education Project as a result; alongside Steven Greenberg, DuBowski screened the film in Orthodox synagogues and convened the first-ever Orthodox mental health conference on homosexuality. The conference was private and underground, training its participants in LGBT affirmative therapy rather than the reparative family the community had previously been using.

Through Trembling Before G-d, DuBowski met Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, the subject of his 2024 film Sabbath Queen. DuBowski began filming in 2003, following Rabbi Lau-Lavie through the balance of his tradition as heir to 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis and his personal identity as a drag performer and progressive Jewish parent. In between these projects, DuBowski produced A Jihad For Love (2007) alongside filmmaker Parvez Sharma, the first documentary to examine the relationship between Islamic faith and homosexuality. Imam Muhsin Hendricks, a South African imam widely considered the world’s first openly gay imam, was prominently featured in the film. He was murdered in 2025.

Since Sabbath Queen’s release in 2024, DuBowski has kept busy. He has spent two years touring the film through over 250 Q&As and events so far. The film and its creators have made 14 awards across the U.S. and Europe. His work has allowed him to further his connection to Judaism, remaining engaged in fostering progressive and spiritual Jewish community. He lives in Brooklyn.

(This biographical statement written by Malena Glover from an interview with Sandi Dubowski and was edited by Dubowski.)

Biography Date: August 2026

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