INTERNAL EXPOSURE: A personal documentary about fathers and sons by Fivel Rothberg

What if you could pause your life and examine the origins of the way you parent?  Look closely at the damaged relationship between you and your parents, see the wounds as they form—and perhaps even heal them? Fivel Rothberg is a young filmmaker that attempts to do just that with his deeply personal autobiographical documentary, “Internal Exposure”.

A native of Philadelphia and recent MFA graduate of the Integrated Media Arts program at Hunter College, Fivel has worked for over ten years as a videographer, producer, and editor for community-based organizations and independent projects.  He considered himself a writer and poet first, and imagined a life where he could, “help people and make a living”.  His son Noam, now thirteen, was born when Fivel was a twenty-year old self-described “anti-racist skinhead”, working as an EMT. 

Noam as a baby.

He and Noam’s mother, Tamara, moved in together in order to take care of Noam. Fivel worked while Tamara stayed home with the baby.  But the relationship did not survive and Fivel moved out. “Internal Exposure” began one and half years ago as Rothberg’s thesis project. He set out to document his son as he traveled between two homes, as well as the two cultures they represented: middle-class and Jewish, and working-class and Puerto Rican.

Fivel and Tamara, pre-parenthood 1997.

The film quickly evolved into an examination of Fivel’s own childhood when his parents agreed to take part, although they are not-always willing participants in the film. Through the interviews in the film, and supported by years of self-examination, Rothberg is able to confront his father about the anger and abusive behavior he experienced growing up. But Fivel is also confronted with his own explosive anger and abusive behavior in Tamara’s recollection of their relationship. As he continued to film, Fivel said, it became more than the story of his son, “It became a documentary about the present and the past.”

Son and father, today.

In a culture that is still warming to the idea of men as equal parents to women, Rothberg courageously exposes his own failings as he examines what it means to be a good father, and a good man. His hope is that the film will “generate much needed dialogue about mental illness, abuse, fatherhood and masculinity.”

The project is now in post-production and Fivel is seeking funds to bring the film to distribution. If you’d like to help support him in his final efforts, or for more information, please go to www.internalexposure.com.