![]() ![]() ![]() SportsLetter recently spoke with Auritt from her home in Brooklyn, New York. While lifting, however, Naomi is determined, rabid, almost ominously fierce.” ![]() While at school, around the house or with her autistic brother, Naomi is essentially a normal young Orthodox girl - albeit one who is practiced at acting affable on camera, as Auritt points out. Wrote Haaretz’s Gabe Friedman: “The result is a nuanced portrait of a deceptively typical teenager. In between, she shattered age-group records, suffered debilitating injuries, debated whether to continue with powerlifting, and celebrated her Bat Mitzvah. She was 11 when filming started she was 14 and about to start high school when the film wrapped. Her aptly named film, “Supergirl,” chronicles Naomi’s coming of age. Over the next three years, as Auritt also worked as a freelance editor and video producer to pay the bills, she filmed Naomi and her family. For instance, they dress modestly, follow strict dietary rules, and refrain from performing any activities on the Sabbath - including lifting weights or competing. She and her family are Modern Orthodox Jews and follow certain precepts. One facet differentiated Naomi from other elite powerlifters: her religious faith. Meanwhile, her father and coach, Ed, delighted the powerlifting followers by posting videos of his daughter’s prowess on YouTube. At the age of 10, she squatted 214.9 pounds to set the world record for women in the 97-pound weight class. Nicknamed “Supergirl,” Naomi was already a celebrated phenom in the niche sport. ![]() After reading an article in the Jewish Daily Forward newspaper about a young powerlifter named Naomi Kutin, she knew that she’d found the subject of what would become her debut feature-length documentary film. In January 2013, not long after director Jessie Auritt won plaudits for “The Birdman,” a short documentary film about an old-school music store in New York City, she began searching for her next project. ![]()
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