Praying With Lior

An engrossing, wrenching and tender documentary film, Praying with Lior introduces Lior Liebling, also called "the little rebbe." Lior has Down syndrome, and has spent his entire life praying with utter abandon. Is he a "spiritual genius," as many around him say? Or is he simply the vessel that contains everyone's unfulfilled wishes and expectations? Lior— whose name means "my light"—lost his mother at age 6, and her words and spirit hover over the film. While everyone agrees Lior is closer to God, he's also a burden, a best friend, an inspiration and an embarrassment, depending on which family member is speaking. As Lior approaches Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, different characters provides a window into life spent "praying with Lior." The movie poses difficult questions, which as What is "disability"? Who really talks to God? Told with intimacy and humor, Praying with Lior is a family story, a triumph story, a grief story, a divinely-inspired story.

Trailer

Credits

Director/Producer: Ilana Trachtman
Cinematographers: Slawomir Grunberg, Ari Haberberg
Editor: Zelda Greenstein
Composer: Andy Statman
Running time: 87 min.
Website: prayingwithlior.com

About the Filmmaker

ILANA TRACHTMAN is an award-winning producer/director of documentaries and children's television programs. She has produced and directed programs in both English and Spanish for PBS, Showtime, Lifetime, HBO Family, ABC-TV, Sundance, Trio, A&E, Thirteen/WNET, The Biography Channel, Discovery and Sesame Workshop. Trachtman is especially experienced with content-rich, character-driven cinema vérité. She directed two episodes of PBS' Texas Ranch House, a reality/documentary series set in 1867. Other favorite projects include the Lifetime documentary special Our Heroes, Ourselves, profiling four grassroots women heroes in America, and hosted by Marlo Thomas; 24w/, a day in the life series following pop culture icons such as Vera Wang, Tina Brown and Damon Dash; Biography: Sylvia Plath; and the HBO Family series My Favorite Book, in which five-year-olds explain their own versions of favorite children's books. Trachtman's work has been awarded Emmys, a CINE Golden Eagle, Tellys, Media That Matters Awards and environmental awards. She is currently the supervising producer on Big Ideas for a Small Planet, a series for the Sundance Channel about environmental innovators. Praying with Lior is her first independent film.