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2008 Documentary awarD
lonDon JewiSH cultural awarDS
official Selection
official Selection
2007 SilverDocS feStival
over 30 JewiSH film feStivalS
a Documentary film by JaSon Hutt
“critic’s Pick”
- new york times, new york magazine
“
”
- time out new york
“a damn good boxing documentary.”
- Salon.com
“turns a conventional sports documentary
into an absorbing, universal portrait.”
- am new york
ORTHODOX STANCE is a portrait of Dmitriy Salita, a
Russian immigrant, professional boxer and religious
Jew, and the seemingly incompatible cultures and
characters working together to support his rare and
remarkable devotion to both Orthodox Judaism and
the pursuit of a professional boxing title.
Dmitriy Salita is a Russian immigrant, professional
boxer and a religious Jew. ORTHODOX STANCE
portrays Dmitriy’s maturation in each of these disparate
communities, and the seemingly incompatible
cultures and characters working together to support
his rare and remarkable devotion to both Orthodox
Judaism and the pursuit of a professional boxing
title. In the end the film is about more than just
boxing and religion, but about a young man’s search
for meaning in life.
For the last 60 years, the term “Jewish boxer” has been an oxymoron. But Dmitriy Salita, a 24
year-old Russian immigrant is making history as a top professional boxer and a rigorously observant
Jew. While providing an intimate, 3-year long look at the trials and tribulations faced by an up and
coming professional boxer, ORTHODOX STANCE is a portrait of seemingly incompatible cultures
and characters working together to support Dmitriy’s rare and remarkable devotion to both Orthodox
Judaism and the pursuit of a professional boxing title.
The film travels with Dmitriy from his home in the Russian section of Brooklyn to a dilapidated
Orthodox synagogue, from a Black and Hispanic amateur gym in the projects to boxing’s biggest
stages in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Puerto Rico. Intimate verite scenes of torah study, prayer,
and keeping kosher and observing the Sabbath on the road are juxtaposed with training, weigh-ins,
business negotiations and locker room and fight footage. In so doing, the film reveals a first-of-its
kind insider’s view of professional boxing and a first-of-a kind professional boxer.
Along the way, we meet the many colorful characters that teach and guide Dmitriy, and the tension
of balancing boxing and Judaism. Rabbi Zalman Liberov teaches Dmitriy how to be a good Jew and
sees him as a model of religious conviction in a secular world. Bob Arum and his company Top Rank
see a talented prospect with great marketing potential. And after 10 years of educating Dmitriy
about boxing and life, and a prominent career dedicated to amateurs, his 80 year-old Black trainer
Jimmy O’ Pharrow has his last, best chance to produce a professional champion.
The film offers behind the scenes access to Dmitriy and his crew for 3 critical years, tracing his
maturation in the gym, with the press, at fights, business meetings and speaking engagements.
At the same time, it explores important aspects of Dmitriy’s identity and back-story--how Jimmy’s
boxing gym gave him sanctuary as a young immigrant, how Dmitriy found God through boxing,
became observant after his mother died, and how she asked Jimmy to look after her son for her.
Jimmy’s age will force him to delegate responsibility to other trainers and as Dmitriy matures, Jimmy
teaches him to be his own boss. Dmitriy will find additional trainers to learn from, leave Bob Arum
for a New York based promoter in order to grow his fan base, and will guide the negotiations for a
new long-term contract.
As he fights in New York in front of Russian immigrants, Hasidic Jews and hard-core boxing fans,
Dmitriy’s celebrity grows and he is ultimately invited to the White House for President Bush’s
Hanukkah party. Through his uncompromising devotion to boxing and Judaism, and comfort and
confidence with who he is, the film shows how Dmitriy is part of these very different worlds on his
own terms, in ways that feel both true to him and new to us.
After 4 years and 22 professional fights, the film culminates with Dmitriy fighting for his first
professional title in front of a rabid crowd of boxing fans and Orthodox Jews at Manhattan’s
Hammerstein Ballroom. The Hasidic Reggae singer Matisyahu sings Dmitriy to the ring and Dmitriy
rewards the crowd with a knockout victory. As Dmitriy exits the ring, he has solidified his credentials
as a professional boxer and a modern day Jewish sports hero. ORTHODOX STANCE tells a universal
story of a young man’s search for meaning in life and will enable viewers to understand and appreciate
boxing and boxers like never before.
Dmitriy Salita
Dmitriy was born in 1982 in Odessa, Ukraine. His family moved to Brooklyn in 1991 to escape various forms
of discrimination against Jews, and provide Dmitriy and his brother Michael with a better future. But the early
experiences were not easy. Dmitriy explains in the film, “In the beginning my family struggled, we were on welfare
and food stamps. Kids made fun of me. I wore bad clothes. I got into a lot of fights, a lot of arguments, and then
at the age of 13 my brother and I started to discuss the idea of boxing.”
The Starrett City Boxing Gym, located in the rough neighborhood of East New York, provided a sanctuary for
Dmitriy to work out his frustrations as an immigrant, but most importantly, gave him a first community. “I wanted
to break out of that level of poverty that we were at, and that social level that we were at, so I could relate to all
of the fighters in the gym, and the boxers who made it, and came from other struggling backgrounds. The gym
gave me a good sense of being.”
As he began to excel in the sport, his mother Lyudmilla became sick with cancer, eventually succumbing to the
disease after a long battle. Boxing again provided an outlet for him to deal with his emotions. “It helped me lock
out the pain and give me a purpose. I knew that I was winning and I knew it was something that I had, that kept
me feeling good.”
Like most Russian Jews, Dmitriy and his family were non-practicing, but, he says, “The anxiety of entering the
ring helped me develop a personal spiritual relationship.” While his mother was being treated at Sloan-Kettering
Hospital, she shared a room with an Orthodox Jewish woman. Dmitriy shared his interest in Judaism with the
woman’s husband, and he directed Dmitriy to the local Chabad Synagogue. Chabad is a branch of Orthodox
Judaism dedicated to outreach to secular Jews, especially to Brooklyn’s Russian community. It is through the
Chabad of Flatbush, and Rabbi Zalman Liberov, that Dmitriy began to observe Orthodox Judaism.
While becoming Sabbath observant and keeping kosher, Dmitriy won the New York City Golden Gloves and the US
Under-19 Amateur National Championship at 139-lbs. In winning the national championship, the tournament
made concessions for his religious observance by moving his final fight from Friday night to after sundown on
Saturday night. Rather than face future scheduling conflicts at amateur tournaments, Dmitriy turned professional
and signed a three year contract with Bob Arum, a Jewish promoter, that stipulated he would never have to fight
on the Sabbath or any other Jewish holiday, a first among professional athletes.
Jimmy O’ Pharrow
Trainer and Director, Starrett City Boxing Club
At 82, Jimmy is one of New York’s legendary gym managers and boxing trainers. He opened the Starrett City
Boxing Club in the Spring Creek Housing Community in East New York in 1978. For the last 30 years the gym has
produced dozens of Golden Glove Champions, and some of the biggest names in professional and amateur boxing:
Shannon Briggs, Monte Barrett, Louis Collazzo, Curtis Stevens, Joe Greene and Danny Jacobs.
But of the thousands of young men and women who have come through the gym, Jimmy’s relationship with Dmitriy
has been one of the closest and most unique. When Dmitriy’s mother was dying of cancer, she asked Jimmy to
look after her son for her. Despite Jimmy’s age, and the addition of new head trainers, Jimmy still looks after
Dmitriy, works the corner at his fights, and continues to run the Starrett City gym.
Israel Liberow
Dmitriy’s manager and advisor
The youngest of 11 children from a Chabad Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish family, and the brother of Rabbi Zalman
Liberov, Israel grew up in London without a television. With his Bar Mitzvah gift money, Israel purchased a Sony
Walkman and began listening to fights broadcast on BBC Radio. He watched his first televised fight at age 14,
a re-broadcast of Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns, in a London electronics store. From that point on Israel was
hooked, and while studying at Yeshiva, would sneak out of dorms to watch big fights at friends’ houses.
Israel met Dmitriy six months after Dmitriy began coming to his brother’s synagogue. Israel says in the film,
“Dmitriy was shocked at how much I blabbered on about boxing and couldn’t believe I was Zalman’s brother--like
I was in disguise, with a clip on beard.” Because of his knowledge and passion for both boxing and Judaism, he
calls their relationship “divine providence.”
Bob Arum
Promoter, Top Rank, Inc.
For the last four decades Bob Arum has promoted the world’s biggest and best fighters from Muhammad Ali and
George Foreman to Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. After winning the NYC
Golden Gloves and the Under-19 Amateur National Championship, Dmitriy signed his first professional contract
with Arum and his Las-Vegas based company Top Rank.
Lou DiBella
Promoter, DiBella Entertainment
Oscar Suarez
Trainer
Hector Roca
Trainer
Rabbi Zalman
Liberov Chabad of Flatbush
Jason Hutt, Director/Producer/Cameraman/Editor
Jason Hutt grew up in Potomac, Maryland where he excelled as a student and soccer player, captaining Churchill
High School to three undefeated seasons and state championships between 1992 and 1994. While studying
at Harvard University, Mr. Hutt transitioned from athlete to artist, as his passion for sports was redirected from
competition to storytelling. After seeing a few of Frederick Wiseman and DA Pennebaker’s films in film classes, Mr.
Hutt was immediately drawn to cinema verite filmmaking. In his first film, SAUSAGE HERE, a short documentary
about the colorful Fenway Park street vendors, Mr. Hutt was able to capture the language, look and feeling that
make sports characters and cultures so special.
After graduating with honors in 1999, and participating in the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium, Hutt
worked in Hollywood as an assistant to Academy Award-nominated director/producer Mike Tollin on sports related
feature films such as SUMMER CATCH, HARDBALL and READY TO RUMBLE. In 2001 Mr. Hutt returned to nonfiction filmmaking to make BREEZEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA, a verite’ portrait of a bustling truck stop town at the
crossroads of two US interstate highways. BREEZEWOOD premiered as the opening night film at the Georgetown
Independent Film Festival in August 2002 where it won Best Cinema Verite’. After additional US and international
film festival screenings it was broadcast by PBS affiliates in Spring 2004.
In ORTHODOX STANCE, Hutt has drawn on his passion for sports to create a portrait of a different kind of cultural
crossroads: Dmitriy Salita, a Russian immigrant, professional boxer and religious Jew, and the diverse characters
supporting Dmitriy’s devotion to both Orthodox Judaism and the pursuit of a professional boxing title.
Michel Negroponte, Producer
Michel Negroponte is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker with such directing credits as SPACE COAST, SILVER
VALLEY, JUPITER’S WIFE, NO ACCIDENT, and W.I.S.O.R. In addition to his own work, he recently co-produced
the feature documentaries MANHATTAN, KANSAS by Tara Wray, BOOKWARS by Jason Rosette, FASTPITCH by
Jeremy Spear, and the Academy-Award nominee and Sundance award winner CHILDREN UNDERGROUND by
Edet Belzberg. Michel’s last film METHADONIA premiered at the 2005 New York Film Festival and was broadcast
by HBO in October 2005.
Rachel Kittner, Editor/Associate Producer
Rachel Kittner started her career at Maysles Films and went on to work on Michael Moore’s television series
THE AWFUL TRUTH. She has since worked as an editor and associate producer on numerous award-winning
documentary and narrative feature films such as STREET FIGHT, SINGAPORE DREAMING, RUTHIE & CONNIE
and RISK/REWARD.
Nick Fraser/BBC Storyville, Executive Producer
Led by commissioning editor Nick Fraser, Storyville is the BBC’s flagship international documentary strand.
Storyville is world famous for commissioning and acquiring the best in feature and standard length documentaries
such as Spike Lee’s WHEN THE LEVEE BROKE and ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER. Storyville films have been awarded
Oscars, Griersons, Peabodys and Emmys and they currently broadcast around 40 international documentaries a
year.
Cactus Three, Executive Producers
Cactus Three is a partnership that was founded by Julie Goldman, Caroline Stevens and Krysanne Katsoolis. For
the past 15 years, they have developed an expertise in all aspects of production, co-production and acquisition, as
well as theatrical, broadcast and video distribution. Recent award-projects executive produced by Cactus include
the documentary feature films SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY, ONCE IN A LIFETIME and LOUDQUIETLOUD, and
the HBO documentary series FAMILY BONDS.
“Orthodox Stance” is a boxing term for the traditional (right-handed) boxing stance, as opposed to the southpaw
(left-handed) boxing stance. A boxer is described as fighting “orthodox” or “southpaw” in the same way that a
baseball player pitches and/or bats right or left handed.
The film was produced by Oxbow Lake Films in association with Cactus 3 Films and BBC Storyville. It received
finishing funds from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Fund for Jewish Documentary Filmmaking
and was awarded a Brooklyn Community Arts Grant. The film had its world premiere in June 2007 at the AFI:
Silverdocs Film Festival and will be broadcast by the BBC in February 2008
There ended up being a total of 170 hours of footage and it took 5 years to complete the film.
My parents live in the DC area and in September 2002 my mother clipped an extensive article on Dmitriy from the
Washington Post Style Section. Because I had been a highly competitive Jewish athlete myself and had recently
moved to Brooklyn, she thought I’d be interested in the article. It mentioned that Dmitriy was affiliated with a
Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Brooklyn so I called the Chabad Rabbi I knew from college and asked if he would
contact Dmitriy’s Rabbi for me.
After reading the article and meeting Dmitriy, it wasn’t the anomalous “religious Jewish boxer” or the “will he
become the next Jewish champ?” angles that attracted me, but rather, the diverse and wholly original characters
and cultures that intersect at Dmitriy -- an elderly African-American trainer, a Hasidic Rabbi, a Las Vegas boxing
promoter; as well as the diversity of Dmitriy’s experience -- a Russian immigrant, a religious Jew, a top boxing
prospect. As a verite filmmaker, I shoot what I’m interested in learning about. I had no idea what the film would
be like, I just knew I wanted to see how Dmitriy experiences these very different worlds, and one day share that
experience with an audience.
After meeting Dmitriy in October 2002, I jumped into production without money or a timeline, devoting the
next several years to keeping up with the story as it played out in New York, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Anaheim,
Washington, Atlantic City and Philadelphia. After a few years of shooting, I began to think about a satisfying
ending. I didn’t want to make a generic sports film because for me the film is about Dmitriy learning how to
navigate the professional boxing world as a religious Jew, not whether he wins the big fight.
The junior title fight at the Hammerstein Ballroom ultimately provided the perfect ending. The grand venue, the
atmosphere, Matisyahu -- it was the natural culmination of that journey. Dmitriy says it best, just before the credits
roll, “It’s the closing of a certain chapter in my life. As a kid you have dreams. And with hard work, faith and
determination, dreams come true, and they’re coming true a little at a time.” As in life, one chapter ends and a
new one begins.
Director: Jason Hutt
Producer: Michel Negroponte, Jason Hutt
Executive Producers: Julie Goldman, Krysanne
Katsoolis, Caroline Stevens, Nick Fraser
Camera: Jason Hutt
Editor: Jason Hutt, Rachel Kittner
Associate Producer: Rachel Kittner
Music Supervisor: Reuben Simon
Original Score: Mark Orton
Online Editor: Scott Doniger
Sound Mixer: Joe Mendelson
Running Time: 82 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 4 x 3
Sound: Stereo Mix
Subtitles: English for Russian, Hebrew & Spanish
Your film provides a very interesting portrait of the ethnic diversity within the boxing world. What is it about the sport that creates
this kind of environment?
Boxing is the sport of the immigrant class. Whether it was a hundred years ago with Irish, Jews and Italians or today with
Hispanics, Africans, and people from the Caribbean, boxing has always been a sport of the underclass and it continues to
be. So the people that you find in the boxing gym are always going to be ethnically diverse (at least in New York City). The
trainers are also going to be diverse in terms of their ethnicity and background. The boxing gym is kind of a great leveler in
that talent and dedication are all that counts. It’s a total meritocracy and there’s no real discrimination. Even if you’re not a
talented boxer, if you’re dedicated, you’ll keep coming back to the gym and you’ll be respected for that. Boxing has its own
codes and they are really based upon very simple things.
In the film, we see a lot of camaraderie among boxers? While making this film, did you see more camaraderie than
competitiveness?
Well there’s both. Here’s the thing that people don’t understand about boxing: ninety to ninety-five percent of boxing is solo
work. Only rarely is the boxer in the ring with another person. The rounds of sparring and the rounds in the ring are really a
fraction compared to the time they put in to physical training, physical conditioning, running, hitting the various bags in the
gym and doing padwork with a trainer. So much of boxing is self-discipline and working on yourself. Second of all, when you’re
in a gym environment, everyone is working hard and watching the other boxers work hard. Seeing the other boxers as they work
motivates one to work harder. I think that the camaraderie grows out of that because every boxer knows how hard it is to be
successful. The physical, mental and emotional demands that a boxer has to put up with—as well as the self-discipline they
have to go through for years and years—definitely breeds camaraderie.
A great sociologist, Loic Wacquant, compares boxing to religion. He feels that the discipline and codes that are involved in
religion are perfectly comparable to the codes in boxing. So I think the camaraderie comes out of that shared lifestyle and
shared dedication and discipline. In the film, we see Dmitriy beat a guy in Puerto Rico who comes into the locker room after
the fight to congratulate him and they just talk. People have this real misconception that the boxers hate each other. Boxers
have more respect for one another than any fan has for any of the boxers in the ring. They know what the other one went
through. That’s why you’ll see that, after they fight each other, a lot of boxers become very good friends because there is
complete respect for one another. I feel that the competition is different within boxing than in any other sport.
It also seems like there’s inter-ethnic respect within the boxing world. I’m thinking of the moment when Dmitriy speaks in Spanish to
the Hispanic audience in Puerto Rico.
I think that scene is really interesting and pivotal. At the beginning of Dmitriy’s career, all his fights were in Las Vegas or
California or, as in this scene, Puerto Rico. He says in the speech, “This is my fifth Latin Fury card” which means this is
the fifth time that Dmitriy is fighting in this boxing event of mostly Hispanic fighters, an event that is being marketed to a
Hispanic audience. So, for the first time now, Dmitriy decides that he’s going to deliver his speech in Spanish which, to me,
is really fascinating because it’s obviously a sign of growth and savviness. He is thinking, if I’m going to fight in front of a
Hispanic audience than I’m going to try and reach out to them. And when he delivers his speech, the audience, which is
all press, goes crazy and really applauds him. He doesn’t have to deliver his speech in Spanish but he’s winning them over
through his charm. At that moment, Dmitriy is adjusting and adapting to his place in the boxing world. In boxing, you fight in
front of your home audience. But Dmitriy, during that scene, is an up and coming fighter so he isn’t getting the opportunity
to fight in front of his own audience. And that’s the trajectory and path of Dmitriy in the film: In terms of his boxing life, he’s
a sort of exiled character who finally has his homecoming in the matches at Brighton Beach and then in Manhattan.
How much access did you have in following Dmitriy?
In the beginning, I would come to the gym and just stay out of the way. I noticed that when a news crew comes to a gym, the
first thing they do is ask to turn the radio off. But the radio is the heartbeat and pulse of the gym. Whether they are jumping
rope or shadow boxing or whatever, every single boxer in that gym is working to the beat and the grooves from the music on
the radio. You can see that rhythm when boxers box. But every news channel or documentary crew that comes in to the gym
asks to turn the radio off. I never once asked anyone to turn the radio off or turn it down which was kind of the first thing I
did in order to gain trust and access. I was coming in there as a guest (not even as a guest, just an observer) to watch Dmitriy,
the other boxers and the culture that goes on in the gym. So I did my best to just stay out of their way, and over time, I was
able to gain more and more access. Before Dmitriy’s first few fights, I didn’t go into the locker room. But over time, as he, his
trainers, his manager and promoter grew to trust me, I was granted access to the locker room. (But to this day, Dmitriy still
doesn’t want anyone such as press in his locker room before the fight because of the distraction.) Also, there were certain
things in his personal life that he didn’t want to be in the film and I respected that. But in terms of what was important to
the film, I felt that I had pretty good access to everything.
I particularly love seeing the enthusiastic Jewish fans in the ringside audience.
This film is not a chronicle of Dmitriy’s fighting career but rather a chronicle of how Dmitriy Salita carved out a place for
himself as an observant Jew in professional boxing. The film starts off in Las Vegas with Dmitriy fighting in front of mostly
Hispanic audiences—we see a Mariachi band performing in the lobby of the Mandelay Bay hotel. And by the end of the film,
you see Matisyahu singing Dmitriy to the ring as well as a ringside audience of Orthodox Jews with big beards and yarmulkes.
Over the course of the film, the boxing audience surrounding Dmitriy Salita becomes his own. And the film ends when this
has been achieved.
Do you think that for Jews, the appeal of someone like Dmitriy Salita today is similar to the appeal of boxers like Barney Ross and
Benny Leonard in the 1920s and 1930s?
There’s always a need for cultural ethnic heroes, that’s just a given. And when you’re an immigrant, there’s an even greater
need. And so the reason there were thousands of Jewish boxers and dozens of Jewish world champions in the twenties and
thirties was because there were so many Jewish immigrants. Since there weren’t economic opportunities for them and since
they were getting into turf wars on the streets of New York and Philadelphia and Chicago, these kids had to be tough. And
when some rose in the boxing ranks and won world titles, then the other Jews could look at their champions and say, yeah
he’s tough and he’s one of us. (The same thing went for the Irish and the Italians at the time.) It’s great for people to see one
of their countrymen succeed at a high level in a sport that they love.
I think Dmitriy has a much different audience today than those boxers had sixty or seventy years ago. Boxing then was the
biggest sport in the world: There was boxing, there was baseball and there was horseracing. But today, baseball, boxing and
horseracing are not the three most popular sports—football and basketball are much more popular, I think. So I feel that
Dmitriy’s popularity remains to be seen. But clearly, he’s very popular in the Orthodox Jewish community because, of course,
he’s an observant Jew. A lot of the boxers in the olden days came from religious families. Dmitriy, on the other hand, didn’t
grow up religious at all but decided that he was going to be observant while being a professional boxer. I think that’s won him
the respect of a tremendous amount of observant and Orthodox Jews because they’re looking at this guy and not only seeing
a professional boxer but someone who’s just like them in that he’s a believer.
Also, of course, there are the Russian fans and these are new immigrants. And then, if you go a step further, you have the
Russian Jewish fans. Just because Jews came over 130 or 140 years ago en mass doesn’t mean that this latest wave of
Jewish migration from the former Soviet Union wasn’t major. And so that’s why you get someone like Dmitriy Salita. He’s a
total throwback to that era: It’s just that it’s different populations that are supporting him at this point. Whether he crosses
over to mainstream Jewish audiences will be determined by the fact that boxing isn’t nearly as popular today as it was then.
Back then, if you had a Jewish boxer, everyone knew and everybody cared, but today, that’s just not the case.
(NY Jewish Film Festival, Jan 2008)