Me and My Matchmaker

After having written an article about a matchmaker from Boston in 1992, filmmaker Mark Wexler got the idea to make a documentary about the issue of arranged marriages. Wexler: "Initially I wanted to make a film about the stereotypical man who is looking for the perfect woman. I was curious to know the exact meaning of the concepts of attraction and romantic love". Wexler got in touch with Irene Nathan, a marriage broker from Chicago, who had already brought 285 marriages to pass by an age-old Jewish tradition. The film covers a period of eighteen months in this colourful woman's life. We are also introduced to a number of her clients, with one of whom the filmmaker falls in love. We are witnesses to their advances and their painful split-up. In the course of the film the relationship between filmmaker Mark Wexler and Irene Nathan changes too. Because of this personal angle the film not only gives insight in the themes of love and friendship, but the complex relationship between the filmmaker and his subject is also put in a different light. Wexler shot 120 hours of film, from which he edited this one-hour documentary. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)