1 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And action! 2 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's huge. 3 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's mind blowing. 4 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I have to keep reminding myself that they're not real. 5 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's like a historical movie, actually, what we are doing here. 6 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is 90 percent of my filming experience, here? 7 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Is like this. 8 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Come over here to do a show set in Williamsburg, 9 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to do it in Berlin, it kind of, you know, plays with my head. 10 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A series in Yiddish, for me also, personally, I think it's a great thing. 11 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Going to be dealing with a language that no one understands. 12 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean, we're dealing with costumes and rituals no one understands. 13 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But the essence of what's happening, that's universally understood. 14 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This very beautiful and unique story 15 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that shows kind of like, both worlds. 16 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't think it's a story about the existence of God, or something. 17 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's more about...the right to have your voice. 18 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And people like me never really had that opportunity. 19 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We never saw ourselves reflected back in the stories being told 20 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in popular culture. 21 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So we didn't really know how to create our own stories. 22 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think this is the first show, ever, to accurately portray 23 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the Hasidic community. 24 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These are real people, and their experiences are very universal, 25 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and very relatable. 26 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When the community watches it, and there is somebody like me, 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 watches it, and sees, this girl lived exactly like she lives. 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, she was able to muster the courage to follow her dreams. 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maybe this girl can, too. 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When I met Ann and Alexa, and I became friends with them, 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I realized, if anybody is ever going to really be able to grasp 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what the story is about, 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and to really execute it in a way 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that is going to have a positive cultural impact, 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's these women. 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 After I met Deborah, i read her book, 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I thought it was amazing. 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean, I read it in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And then, she said: 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "Well, why don't you make my book into a TV show?" 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Anna and I wanted to make a show for a while, 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in which we could work through a lot of the topics 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we discuss a lot, especially about being Jewish in Germany. 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To me, the story is about a young woman, who 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is searching for herself, 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and she is searching for her community in the world. 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Esther is a 19 year old girl. 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She was born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the community called Satmar. 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 - Don't forget, Esty. He speaks first. 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She grows up in a very religious neighborhood. 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, frees herself from an unhappy arranged marriage, 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and flees to Berlin. 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Her story is unique, and romantic. 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We just felt it was so different, that somebody would leave 56 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this very insular community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, 57 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and find their way here, out of choice. 58 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 From a very young age, she always felt very different. 59 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She's always been told that she is very different, 60 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because of the fact that she always has questions within her, 61 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and she has that 'chutzpah,' you can say. 62 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The Satmar Jews are a Hasidic community, 63 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 originally from the town of Sate Mar, in Hungary. 64 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They are mostly descendants of Holocaust survivors, and 65 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 started by Holocaust survivors, in New York, after the war. 66 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This kind of makes them a little bit different 67 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 than a lot of other Hasidic communities,