West
dir. Bradford Siwak
2023
Running time: 37 min.
Trailer
This film is a journey tracing the westward, suburban relocation of United Hebrew, the first synagogue west of the Mississippi River. At the Gateway to the West, the modern American Dream meets the frontier of the country’s ideological identities. Voices from St. Louis’ Jewish community—and the filmmaker’s family, specifically—accompany the visual of the changing landscape.
Bradford Siwak
Bradford is a third-year Walter Williams Scholar and Senator Wayne Goode Scholar majoring in photo-documentary journalism and sociology. He has also completed minors in French and film studies and will graduate with an honors certificate. Bradford is interested in using film to examine how historical narratives shape identity and define place, thus exploring the intersection of the personal and cultural.